Columbia  WLnibtx&itv 

mttjeCitpofjaetoforfe 


LIBRARY 


GIVEN   BY 


Va/e   University    Library 


^  S3  cj£^fc^i<r 


MEMORIALS 


OF 


Horatio  Balch  Hackett. 


EDITED    ISY 


GEORGE   H.   WHITTEMORE. 


ROCHESTER 

1876. 


Yale  Univ.  L»b.   gift 
A    Oct.     1938 


"  I  have  searched  my  own  heart  in  vain,  if  I  would  knowingly  interpose  a  single 
idea  of  my  own,  or  any  shade  of  an  idea,  between  the  mind  of  the  reader  of  God's 
Word  and  any  one  of  its  holy  declarations." 


ADDRESS  IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK,  OCTOBER  6,    1859. 


3  3  2.53 
HU5 


PRESS    OF    E.    R.    ANDREWS,    ROCHESTER. 


PREFACE. 

The  Reverend  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
died  suddenly  at  his  residence  in  Rochester,  New  York, 
on  Tuesday,  November  2,  1875.  Funeral  services  took 
place  at  Rochester,  on  Friday,  November  fifth,  and  at 
Newton  Centre,  to  which  place  the  remains  were  con- 
veyed, on  Saturday,  November  sixth.  In  the  addresses 
on  these  occasions,  and  in  the  notices  which  the  event 
elicited  from  the  press,  from  public  bodies,  and  from 
individuals  in  this  country  and  abroad,  the  intimacies 
and  pursuits  of  Dr.  Hackett,  and  the  Institutions  of 
higher  education,  to  which  he  gave  his  services,  were 
represented. 

The  sentiment  having  early  declared  itself  that  a 
volume  like  the  present  should  emanate  from  the  Seminary 
of  sacred  learning  which  he  adorned  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  it  has  been  a  pious  office  to  collect  for  publi- 
cation in  the  form  in  which  they  were  paid,  some  of 
these  tributes,  and  to  employ  others,  together  with 
Dr.  Hackett's  published  works,  his  journals,  and  the 
personal  recollections  of  others,  and  of  the  editor,  in 
preparing  an  accompanying  memoir  of  the  life  and 
services  of  their  honored  subject.  To  all  whose 
contributions  thus  enter  into  these  pages,  and  who 
have  in  any  way  advanced  their  compilation,  sincere 
thanks  are  returned. 


IV  TREFACE. 

The  benefactor,  whose  name  is  connected  with  the 
halls  of  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  and  with  the 
chair  which  Dr.  Hackett  there  filled,  made  liberal 
provision  toward  the  publication  of  this  volume  when  he 
learned  that  it  was  projected.  This  tribute  of  John  B. 
Trevor  to  the  memory  of  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  con- 
tinues an  association  of  names,  which,  by  the  blessing 
of  God,  has  been  fruitful  for  the  interests  of  Christian 
learning. 

The  Editor. 

Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  May  16,  1876. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


«»» « » -<■»- 


PAGE. 

I.  MEMORIAL  BIOGRAPHY.  3 

II.  MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES. 

AT    THE    FUNERAL    SERVICES    IN    ROCHESTER, 
NEW    YORK. 

Rev.    Augustus    H.    Strong,  D.   D.,  President  of  Rochester 

Theological  Seminary  -  -  -  -  -181 

Students  of  Rochester  Theological  Seminary         -  -  195 

Martin  B.  Anderson,  LL.  D.,  President  of  the  University  of 
Rochester  ______  197 


AT  THE  FUNERAL  SERVICES  IN  NEWTON  CENTRE, 
MASSACHUSETTS. 

Rev.  George  H.  Whittemore,  Rochester  Theological  Seminary  205 
Rev.  Edwards  A.  Park,  D.  D.,  Professor  in  Andover  Theolog- 
ical Seminary  ______     207 

Rev.  William  S.  Tyler,  D.  D.,  Professor  in  Amherst  College    215 

Rev.  Alexis  Caswell,  D.  D.,   LL.  D.,  Ex-President  of  Brown 

University  ______  223 

Rev.  Alvah  Hovey,  D.  D.,  President   of  Newton   Theological 

Institution      ---____       227 

Rev.  Ezekiel  G.  Robinson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  President  of  Brown 

University  ______  239 

Rev.  Andrew  P.  Peabody,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Professor  in  Harvard 

College,  and  Preacher  to  the  University  -  -  243 


VI  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

III.  MEMORIAL  TRIBUTES. 

FROM    ACADEMICAL    AND    CLERICAL    BODIES. 

The  Faculty  of  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary  249 

The  Trustees  of  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary  250 

The  Faculty  of  the  Newton  Theological  Institution  252 

The  New  York  Baptist  Ministerial  Conference          -  253 

The  Boston  Baptist  Ministerial  Conference           -  254 

The  American  Bible  Revision  Committee             -             -  260 

FROM    PERSONAL    SOURCES. 

Rev.  Thomas  J.  Conant,  D.  D.,  Brooklyn,  New  York      -  265 

Rev.  Barnas  Sears,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Staunton,  Virginia         -  268 

Rev.  Samuel  F.  Smith,  D.  D.,  from  Brussels,  Belgium     -  269 
Rev.  Henry  M.  Dexter,  D.  D.,  Boston,  Massachusetts            ^ 

Rev.  Samuel  G.  Brown,  D.D.,  LL.  D.,  President  of  Hamilton  >  271 

College             _-_--_) 
Rev.  William  Hague,  D.  D.,  from  Germany             -           -  273 
Rev.  Augustus  Tholuck,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Halle-Wittenberg,  Germany      -             -  275 
Rev.  Brooke  Foss  Westcott,  D.  D.,  Professor  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  England              -             -             -             -  276 
Rev.  Joseph  Angus,  D.  D.,  President  of  Regent's  Park  College, 

London  _.-___  276 

Rev.  D.  Z.  Sakellarios.  Athens,  Greece      -  -  -  277 

Rev.  Ezekiel  Russell,  D.  D.,  Holbrook,  Massachusetts  -  278 

Rev.  Daniel  L.  Furber,  D.  D.,  Newton  Centre,  Massachusetts  286 

APPENDIX. 

1.     Letter  by  Professor  Hackett,  Written  in  1835  295 

11.     List  of  Published  Works  and  Articles  by  Dr.  Hackett  298 

in.     A  Page  from  Dr.  Hackett's  Journal,  1845  303 


CONTENTS  OF  BIOGRAPHY. 


^)  4 »  <» 


CHAPTER  I. 

180S— 1826. 

PAGE. 
BOYHOOD    AND    SCHOOL-DAYS.  ______  3 

CHAPTER  II. 

1826— 1834. 

STUDENT   LIFE  AT   AMHERST   AND  ANDOVER,   EMBRACING  COLLEGE 

TUTORSHIP.  --_-_____  10 

CHAPTER  III. 
1834— 1839. 

MARRIAGE.  PROFESSORSHIP      AT       BALTIMORE.  CHANGE      OF 

CHURCH    CONNECTIONS.  PROFESSORSHIP    AT     PROVIDENCE.  23 

CHAPTER    IV. 
1839 — 1842. 

BEGINNING  OF    PROFESSORSHIP    AT    NEWTON    AND   ORDINATION. 

FIRST   FOREIGN   TOUR. THEOLOGICAL  STUDIES  IN  GERMANY. 

SERVICES    TO    BAPTISTS    IN    DENMARK.  ^^ 

CHAPTER  V. 

1843— 1851. 

LITERARY  LABORS  : ANNOTATED  WORK  OF  PLUTARCH  J TRANS- 
LATION of  winer's  chaldee  grammar  ;  —  Hebrew  exer- 
cises.    TEMPORARY      SERVICE      IN      ANDOVER       SEMINARY. 

LIBERALITY   OF  CHARACTER. — FIRST  EDITION  OF  COMMENTARY 

ON     ACTS.  -  -  -  _  _  -  50 


Vlll  CONTENTS    OF    BIOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

1851— 1852. 

SECOND    FOREIGN    TOUR  : IN    ENGLAND,    FRANCE,  ITALY,  EGYPT 

AND        PALESTINE,        GREECE,        GERMANY,        FRANCE,        GREAT 
BRITAIN.  -  -  -  -  -----60 

CHAPTER    VII. 

1852— 1858. 

EVENTS    UPON    RETURN. REQUISITES  FOR    A    SACRED    INTERPRE- 
TER.  PUBLICATION      OF      ILLUSTRATIONS      OF      SCRIPTURE. 

SECOND    EDITION    OF    COMMENTARY    ON    ACTS.  -  -  72 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

1858— 1859. 

THIRD     FOREIGN      TOUR. SWITZERLAND. RESIDENCE,     STUDIES, 

AND     TRAVELS,      IN      GREECE. RETURN      THROUGH      AUSTRIA, 

GERMANY,    BELGIUM,    ENGLAND.  -  -  80 

CHAPTER  IX. 
1859 — i860. 

ADDRESS     ON     BIBLE     REVISION. LABORS     ON     THE     EPISTLE     TO 

PHILEMON.  --__--_--  89 

CHAPTER  X. 

1861— 1865. 

PATRIOTISM: IN    ACADEMICAL  ADDRESSES; — CORRESPONDENCE; 

PUBLICATION    OF    MEMORIAL    VOLUME; ADDRESS    AT    DEDI- 
CATION   OF    SOLDIERS'    MONUMENT    IN    NEWTON.  -  -  105 

CHAPTER  XI. 

i860 — 1865. 

RETROSPECT. HONORS. DEATHS     OF      FRIENDS. REMARKS      AT 

NEWTON. LITERARY    LABORS. EXTRACTS    FROM    JOURNAL.  I  29 

CHAPTER  XII. 

1865— 1868. 

LAST    YEARS    IN     NEWTON     INSTITUTION. LITERARY    LABORS  : 

DICTIONARY     OF     THE     BIBLE; WORK     ON    LANGE's    COMMEN- 
TARY ; PLUTARCH. ACTIVITY     IN     ACADEMICAL     SERVICES. 

RETIREMENT    FROM    PROFESSORSHIP    IN    NEWTON.  1J7 


CONTENTS    OF    BIOGRAPHY.  IX 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

1868— 1870. 

TASKS     AS     A      WRITER. CHANGED     MODE      OK      LIFE      FOR      TWO 

YEARS. ACCEPTANCE    OF    A    CHAIR    IN    ROCHESTER  THEOLOGI- 
CAL SEMINARY. INTERVAL  BEFORE  ENTRANCE  ON  ITS  DUTIES. 

FOURTH    FOREIGN    TOUR,    IN    GREAT    BRITAIN     AND    ON    THE 

CONTINENT.  ------___        ^8 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

1870— 1875. 

PROFESSORSHIP     AT     ROCHESTER. OLD     FRIENDS     THERE. VISIT 

TO    AMHERST    IN     1871. TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    E.    G.    ROBINSON. 

DECEASED     CONTEMPORARIES. LITERARY      LABOR. POSITION 

IN    THE    SEMINARY. REMINISCENCE     OF     ANDOVER     ACADEMY. 

FIFTH    FOREIGN    TOUR    IN    EUROPE.  -  153 

CHAPTER  XV. 

1875. 

THE     LAST     OF    EARTH. FUNERAL     SERVICES     AT    ROCHESTER. 


FINAL     OBSEQUIES      AT      NEWTON. MEMORIALS. CHARACTER- 
ISTICS.  CONCLUSION.            ----___ 


167 


MEMORIAL  BIOGRAPHY. 


MEMORIAL   BIOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER    I. 

1 808-1 826. 

BOYHOOD    AND    SCHOOL-DAYS. 

Horatio  Balch  Hackett  was  born  in  Salisbury, 
Massachusetts,  December  27th,  1808.  This  is  the  most 
ancient  of  the  towns  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Merrimac 
which  belong  to  Massachusetts,  having  been  incorporated 
in  1640.  It  is  in  a  region  noted  at  once  for  its  picturesque 
inland  scenery,  and  for  a  sea-coast  of  varied  attractions, 
stretching  from  the  bold  rocks  of  Nahant  to  Salisbury 
sands.  This  is  also  a  storied  land,  famous  in  colonial  and 
national  annals,  in  romance,  and  in  song.  With  the  dis- 
trict of  the  Merrimac  are  associated  many  of  the  most 
distinguished  names  in  American  history  and  letters. 

The  name  of  the  Merrimac,  "  most  industrious  and 
beautiful  of  rivers,"  is  prominent  also  in  the  records  of 
manufactures  and  commerce.  Its  ship  yards  have  been 
long  and  widely  known.  At  Salisbury  the  Continental 
frigate  Alliance  was  constructed  during-  the  Revolution, 
under  the  supervision,  as  joint-builder,  of  John  Hackett, 
grandfather  of  Horatio.  His  maternal  grandfather,  Rev. 
Benjamin  Balch,  was  chaplain  in  the  same  ship,  and  had 


4  HORATIO    BALCH     HACKETT. 

two  sons  on  board  with  him,  both  of  whom  were  minors, 
and  counted  as  one  man. 

The  Hackett  family  is  believed  to  be  descended  from 
the  Scotch  and  the  Danes.  Few  representatives  of  the 
name  emigrated  to  this  country. 

Richard  Hackett,  the  father  of  Horatio,  was  also  a 
ship-builder.  He  married  Martha  Balch,  the  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Benjamin  Balch,  of  Barrington,  New  Hamp- 
shire. 

Four  children  were  born  of  this  union:  James,  who  is 
now  living  in  New  Hampshire;  Horatio  B.;  John  (named 
after  his  grandfather),  who  died  August  16th,  1815,  at  the 
age  of  four  years  and  nine  months;  and  Richard  (a  family 
name,  borne  by  the  father  of  the  builder  of  the  Alliance), 
who  died  some  years  since  in  Philadelphia.  The  father 
had  preceded  his  infant  son  to  the  grave,  dying  October 
2 1  st,  1 8 1 4,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty. 

Anterior  to  this  heavy  loss  was  an  incident  upon  the 
very  verge  of  Dr.  Hackett's  earliest  recollections,  which 
may  be  mentioned  here  as  illustrating  a  by-gone  phase  of 
New  England  life.  It  relates  to  an  old  negro  woman 
called  Aga,  who  lived  in  the  family  of  his  grandfather 
Balch  at  Barrington,  and  had  been  nurse  to  his  mother 
and  aunt.  She  had  been  a  slave  in  New  Hampshire, 
before  the  emancipation  there,  and  was  originally  stolen 
from  Africa,  of  which  she  had  faint  recollections.  He 
had  heard  her  praises  sounded,  and,  with  reference  to  her 
fidelity  and  goodness,  she  had  so  often  been  called  in  his 
hearing  a  beautiful  woman,  that,  ignorant  of  her  color 
and  history,  he  expected  to  behold  an  almost  angelic 
being.     When,  upon  being  taken  to  his  grandfather's,  he 


INCIDENTS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  5 

saw  instead  an  old  black  woman,  such  was  the  revulsion 
of  disappointment  that  he  ran  away,  got  a  stick,  and 
coming  up  behind  her,  struck  her  violently.  She  cried 
out,  and  he  ran  off  and  hid  in  the  wood-pile.  On  being 
apprehended  and  led  back,  his  first  inquiry  was,  almost 
fearing  he  had  become  a  murderer,  "  Does  she  bleed?" 

It  is  somewhat  hard  to  believe,  even  upon  his  own 
testimony,  that  the  severe  scholar  and  dignified  man  was 
once  a  roguish  boy,  and  liked  to  sit  in  the  gallery  of 
the  church  with  kindred  spirits.  One  of  the  Sabbath 
diversions  of  the  boys,  when  they  could  elude  the 
Tithing-man,  was  to  fasten  two  pieces  of  apple  to  the 
ends  of  a  string,  and  throwing  it  to  the  geese,  to  see  them 
pull  the  pieces  from  each  others'  mouths. 

More  congruous  with  his  after  character  seems  the 
interest  which  made  the  boy  of  eight  years  run  from 
Salisbury  to  the  Mills,  to  see  President  Monroe,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  visit  to  New  England,  in  the  summer  of 
1 817.  He  distinctly  remembered  the  Goodridge  case  in 
this  same  year,  celebrated  in  the  criminal  annals  of  Essex 
county. 

His  acquaintance  with  English  literature  began  at  an 
early  age.  Works  by  Smollett,  Fielding,  Sterne,  and 
other  writers,  he  read,  when  a  little  boy,  visiting  his  aunt, 
on  the  Merrimac  river,  the  books  being  borrowed  from  a 
neighboring  sea-captain.  At  night  he  would  ask  his  aunt 
to  light  up,  and  she  would  say,  when  he  could  see  three 
lights  on  the  river  she  would  give  him  a  candle.  The 
little  watchman  would  take  his  place,  and  ejaculate,  "Aunt 
I  see  one  light !  two  !  three  ! " 

In  the  autumn  of  1820  he  went  to  live,  temporarily, 
with  a  relative  at  Newburyport. 


6  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

The  summer  of  1821  was  signalized  by  attending  the 
Academy  at  Amesbury,  under  the  charge  of  Master 
Walsh.  Michael  Walsh  was  a  celebrated  teacher,  and 
a  graduate  of  Dublin  University,  Ireland.  He  treated 
his  young  pupil  with  great  kindness,  affording  him  sub- 
stantial aid  in  obtaining  an  education,  and  was  ever 
regarded  by  him  with  respect  and  affection. 

Two  great  historical  names  were  connected  with  the 
remembrance  of  this  period  of  the  boy's  history.  One 
evening,  returning  home,  he  saw  it  written  in  chalk  on 
the  window-shutter  of  a  shop,  "Buonaparte  is  dead."  His 
first  knowledge  of  Daniel  Webster  he  received  from 
Master  Walsh,  probably  in  the  year  1822,  when  that 
distinguished  man  was  a  candidate  for  Congress  for  the 
first  time,  from  his  new  constituency  in  Massachusetts. 
The  master  was  standing  with  a  group  of  boys,  in  front 
of  the  Academy,  which  was  upon  an  eminence  overlook- 
ing the  valley  of  the  Powow,  and  the  part  of  Salisbury 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Rocky  Hill.  Lifting  his  hand, 
and  pointing  with  an  earnest  gesture  in  the  direction,  he 
said,  "  Now,  boys,  look  there — the  smartest  man,  yes,  the 
smartest  man  in  all  Massachusetts  came  from  out  of  the 
bushes  over  there  ! "  The  remark  made  a  strong  impres- 
sion upon  at  least  one  of  the  youthful  auditors.  It 
suggested,  and  perhaps,  as  he  afterward  thought,  was 
intended  to  suggest,  that  the  fault  is  in  themselves,  and 
not  in  their  stars,  if  persons  fail  to  overcome  the  obstacles 
to  success  and  eminence,  which  early  poverty  and  obscurity 
may  place  in  their  path.  Mr.  Walsh  referred,  as  he 
supposed,  to  the  fact  that  the  mother  of  Daniel  Webster, 
who  was  an   Eastman,  was  a  native  of  Salisbury,  Mass. 


SCHOOL-DAYS    AT    ANDOVER.  7 

Some  of  the  kindred  of  the  name  were  living  there  in 
his  childhood,  and  were  well  known. 

The  circumstances  of  his  early  bereavement  gave  the 
fatherless  hoy  no  exemption  from  the  frequent  lot  of 
genius,  the  necessity  of  strenuous  exertion,  with  the 
accompaniment  of  anxious  forebodings. 

Plaistow,  N.  H.,  was  the  scene  of  another  temporary 
residence,  for  the  sake  of  employment  in  a  store,  in  the 
autumn  of  1822. 

At  the  same  season  of  1823,  on  the  eleventh  of  Sep- 
tember, he  became  a  pupil  in  Phillips  Academy,  Andover, 
Massachusetts.  The  step  was  taken  by  the  advice  of  an 
uncle,  Rev.  William  Balch,  who  had  studied  at  Harvard 
College,  and  who  was  acquainted  with  the  teachers  at 
Andover. 

This  celebrated  school,  "  the  Rugby  of  America,"  as  it 
has  been  called,  was  now  verging  towards  the  end  of  its 
first  half-century,  having  been  founded  in  1778,  and 
incorporated  two  years  later.  It  was  at  this  time  under 
the  superintendence  of  John  Adams,  father  of  the  Rev. 
William  Adams,  D.  D.,  of  New  York,  as  Principal. 
Liberal  aid  was  rendered  to  the  meritorious,  and  at  the 
end  of  three  months,  the  new  scholar  was  sure  of  board 
and  tuition  remitted,  until  fitted  for  college.  The  memory 
of  this  time  has  been  embalmed  by  the  literary  genius  of  a 
distinguished  school-fellow,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, 
in  a  charming  paper  published  almost  fifty  years  after.  It 
contains  a  personal  description  of  the  young  Hackett,  as 
attractive  in  verbal  portraiture  of  the  reality,  as  is  the 
engraver's    familiar    ideal    likeness   of   the   child   Milton. 


5  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

The  writer  says  : — 

"Of  the  boys  who  were  at  school  with  me  at  Andover, 
one  has  acquired  great  distinction  among  the  scholars  of 
the  land.  One  day  I  observed  a  new  boy  in  a  seat  not 
very  far  from  my  own.  He  was  a  little  fellow,  as  I 
recollect  him,  with  black  hair  and  very  bright  black  eyes, 
when  at  length  I  got  a  chance  to  look  at  them.  Of  all 
the  new-comers  during  my  whole  year,  he  was  the  only 
one  whom  the  first  glance  fixed  in  my  memory ;  but 
there  he  is  now,  at  this  moment,  just  as  he  caught  my 
eye  on  the  morning  of  his  entrance.  His  head  was 
between  his  hands  ( I  wonder  if  he  does  not  sometimes 
study  in  that  same  posture  nowadays ! ),  and  his  eyes 
were  fastened  to  his  book  as  if  he  had  been  reading  a 
will  that  made  him  heir  to  a  million.  I  feel  sure  that 
Professor  Horatio  Balch  Hackett  will  not  find  fault  with 
me  for  writing  his  name  under  this  inoffensive  portrait." 

Dr.  Holmes  speaks  of  Dr.  Hackett  as  a  new-comer,  but 
the  latter  had  already  been  a  year  in  the  school  when 
Dr.  Holmes  came  to  spend  the  year  1824-5  there.  It 
may  have  been  the  first  time  that  the  young  Hackett 
attracted  the  notice  of  his  popular  and  versatile  school- 
fellow, whom  every  one  knew  and  admired.  Dr.  Hackett 
has  been  heard  to  describe  him  in  terms  almost  identical 
with  those  of  a  published  reminiscence,  by  their  school- 
fellow, Rev.  Dr.  J.  F.  Stearns,  and  the  picture  may  be 
given  here,  as  a  pendant  to  the  one  already  presented : 
"  I  remember  Holmes  just  as  if  it  was  yesterday,  and  if 
I  was  a  painter  I  could  draw  his  face  just  at  it  was  at  the 
time  of  my  connection  with  the  Academy.  A  beautiful 
boy   he   was ;    bright,  cheerful,   and  unsophisticated,  and 


SCHOOL-DAYS    AT    ANDOVER.  9 

brilliant  in  every  department  of  his  study.  Well  I 
remember  the  day  that  he  passed  his  last  examination, 
when  he  read  his  performance — I  think  it  was  a  poetic 
translation  ;  perhaps  my  memory  does  not  serve  me  right 
in  that  respect,  hut  I  think  it  was  a  poetic  translation 
from  one  of  the  Roman  poets, — and  there  stood  his  good 
old  father  by,  and  the  tears  were  running  down  the  old 
man's  cheeks  as  he  listened.  He  was  beloved  by  every 
one  who  knew  him." 

Besides  the  daily  vision  of  stern-faced  John  Adams, 
with  the  sub-master, Jonathan  Clement, and  the  assistants, 
George  Beckwith  and  Samuel  H.  Stearns,  familiar  and 
impressive  to  Hackett  and  Holmes,  in  these  school-days, 
was  the  sight  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  Seminary:  "Moses 
Stuart,  Roman  in  face  and  figure,  with  his  tooa  over  his 
arm  in  all  weathers,"  Drs.  Woods,  Porter,  and  Murdock  — 
to  all  of  whom  the  boys  listened  as  preachers, — and 
Squire  Samuel  Farrar,  for  a  generation  from  its  foun- 
dation Treasurer  of  the  Seminary. 

With  Dr.  Hackett  and  his  friends, — including  the  Rev. 
Ray  Palmer,  D.  D.,  of  New  York;  Rev.  Jonathan  F. 
Stearns,  D.  D.,  of  Newark,  New  Jersev;  and  Rev.  William 
W.  Newell,  D.  D.,  of  New  York, — originated,  it  is  stated, 
the  Philomathean  Society  of  the  Academy;  which  cele- 
brated its  Semi-Centennial,  May  26,  1875.  In  due  time 
he  became  a  member  of  the  Senior  Class  Societv,  the 
Social  Fraternity,  which  does  not  now  survive.  Among 
his  papers  are  several  exercises  prepared  for  its  meetings. 

Three  years  were  spent  in  this  secluded  retreat.  He 
graduated  from  the  Academy  in  August,  1826,  with  the 
Valedictory    Address.      The    traditions    of    its    youthful 


IO  HORATIO    BALCH     HACKETT. 

eloquence  still  survive.  According  to  one  account,  he 
drew  a  moving  comparison  between  the  favored  lot  of 
those  who  were  to  pursue  higher  studies,  and  the  destiny 
of  an  enforced  return  to  uncongenial  occupations.  Grave 
men  who  heard  it  were  touched,  and  resolved  that  the 
foreboding  should  not  be  experienced.  So,  some  idea  he 
had  had  of  trying  his  fortune  at  Brunswick  was  aban- 
doned, and  he  was  sent  to  Amherst. 


CHAPTER     II. 

1826-1834. 

STUDENT    LIFE    AT    AMHERST    AND    ANDOVER,    EMBRACING 
COLLEGE    TUTORSHIP. 

A  month  after  the  Exhibition  at  Andover,  in  the 
latter  part  of  September,  1826,  the  youthful  aspirant 
after  learning  was  admitted  to  the  Freshman  Class  in 
Amherst  College.  The  excellent  Rev.  Heraan  Hum- 
phrey, D.  D.,  the  second  President  of  the  College,  had 
then  been  for  three  years  in  that  office,  which  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  until  1845.  Among  the  Faculty  at  that 
time,  special  mention,  on  account  of  after  intimacy  and 
friendship,  may  be  made  of  the  Rev.  Nathan  Welby 
Fiske,  Professor  of  the  Greek  Language  and  Literature ; 
and  the  Rev.  Solomon  Peck,  D.  D.,  who,  for  seven  years, 
from  1825  till  1832,  was  Professor  of  the  Latin  and 
Hebrew  Languages  and  Literatures.  Dr.  Peck  died 
June  1 2th,  1874.  Among  letters  which  he  had  written, 
the   reperusal    of   which  was  occasioned    by  his  decease, 


COLLEGE    DAYS    AT    AMHERST.  II 

was  one,  dated  Amherst  College,  September  20th,  1826, 
in  which,  speaking  of  admissions  to  the  new  class,  he 
says:  "Also  young  Hackett,  who  passed  as  splendid 
an  examination   as   I   have  ever  heard." 

Other  professors  were  the  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.;  the  Rev.  Samuel  L.  Worcester,  D.  D. ; 
and  the  Rev.  Jacob  Abbott,  the  well-known  writer  and 
teacher.  The  closest  and  tenderest  of  the  associations 
with  new  teachers  which  the  young  collegian  here  formed, 
was  that  with  the  Rev.  Bela  Bates  Edwards,  D.  D.,  who 
became  tutor  at  Amherst  in  1826-7.  Dr.  Hackett  wrote, 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  after,  "  I  can  now 
recollect  distinctly  from  my  college  days  not  a  few  of 
his  remarks  on  passages  in  the  classics,  not  merely  the 
things  said,  but  the  words  employed  by  him,  the  tone 
and  look   with   which   he  spoke." 

At  Amherst,  he  had  the  use  of  money  from  two 
gentlemen  who  had  become  interested  in  him,  but 
lived  with  great  economy,  afterwards  refunding  the  aid 
received.  As  many  of  his  fellow -students  went  away, 
at  the  end  of  the  first  term,  to  teach  country  schools,  he 
was  led  to  follow  their  example.  On  December  nth, 
1826,  he  left  Amherst  for  Belchertown  to  teach  a  school 
which  had  been  previously  engaged.  He  returned  to 
Amherst,  February  3d,  having  worked  nearly  two 
months  for  twenty  dollars,  enough  to  buy  a  coat. 

The  year  1827  witnessed  a  great  religious  interest  in 
Amherst  College,  and  the  future  Christian  teacher  was 
included  in  its  beneficent  influences.  So  engrossed  was 
he  with  the  subject  of  his  personal  relation  to  Christ, 
that,  according   to   his   statement    before   the   council    at 


12  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

the  time  of  his  ordination  to  the  ministry,  he  resolved 
to  lay  aside  his  studies,  until  the  matter  was  decided, 
and  did  not  resume  them  until  he  felt  that  he  had  made 
a  complete  surrender  to  Christ.  He  became  a  member 
of  the  College  Church  soon  after  the  opening  of  his 
Sophomore  year,  on  the  second  day  of  November,  1828, 
forty-seven  years  before  the  day  of  his  death. 

"It  illustrates  the  value  of  revivals  in  college  to 
observe,  that  among  the  large  number  who  united  with 
the  College  Church  at  the  same  time  with  Professor 
Hackett,  were  Dr.  Benjamin  Schneider,  the  missionary 
to  Turkey;  Henry  Lyman,  the  martyr  of  Sumatra; 
Dr.  Edward  P.  Humphrey,  son  of  President  Humphrey; 
Dr.  A.  W.  McClure,  Secretary  of  the  American  and 
Foreign  Christian  Union,  and  others  scarcely  less 
honored  and  useful." 

The  author  of  the  above  words,  the  Rev.  Professor 
William  Seymour  Tyler,  D.  D.,  of  Amherst  College, 
became  the  life -long  and  valued  friend  of  Dr.  Hackett, 
as  a  classmate  at  Amherst,  which  he  entered  from 
another  college,  in  the  Junior  year.  He  kindly  furnishes 
the  following  incidents  in  the  college  life  of  his  friend, 
beginning  with  one  previous  to  their  acquaintance. 

"  Many  little  circumstances  show  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow -students  in  college. 
In  1827,  when  he  was  a  Freshman,  he  was  chosen  one 
of  the  speakers  in  an  exhibition  of  the  Alexandrian 
Society,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  the  exhibition 
came  off  on  the  4th  of  July,  as  a  part  of  the  cele- 
bration of  the  national  anniversary  by  the  College  and 
the  community ! 


HONORS    IN    COLLEGE.  13 

"In  the  summer  term  of  his  Junior  year,  1S29,  he- 
was  elected  the  first  president  from  his  Class,  of  the 
same  society,  which  was  the  highest  honor  that  the 
society  could  confer  upon  him.  His  subject  was, 
'Ambition  —  its  Influence  in  a  Popular  Government.' 
The  same  year  he  received  the  highest  appointment 
for  the  Junior  Exhibition  (May  13th,  1829),  viz.,  the 
Latin  oration ;  his  theme  was,  '  De  Militari  Fama 
Romanorum,  priusquam  Imperatores  Rerum  Potiunturl 

"  In  his  Senior  year  he  was  the  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee who  were  appointed  by  the  students  to  wait 
upon  Professor  (afterwards  President)  Hitchcock,  and 
request  him  to  publish  the  course  of  lectures  which  he 
had  just  given  in  the  college  on  the  subject  of 
Health,  Diet  and  Regimen.  The  lectures  were  pub- 
lished in  a  book,  which  became  quite  famous  under 
the  title  of  '  Dyspepsy  Forestalled  and  Resisted.'  The 
other  members  of  the  committee  (one  from  each  class) 
were  Porter  Parker  (afterwards  Dr.  Parker,  of  China), 
Lyman  Gibbons  (afterwards  Judge  Gibbons,  of  Mobile), 
and  Hosea  D.  Humphreys  (afterwards  Professor  Hum- 
phreys, of  Wabash  College). 

"  The  same  year  he  was  chairman  of  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  students  to  wait  on  Daniel  Webster, 
who  was  to  pass  the  night  in  town,  and  request  him 
to  address  the  students.  Mr.  Webster  replied,  that  he 
would  not  address  them,  but  would  be  most  happy  to 
meet  them  a  few  moments  at  such  time  and  place  as 
they  might  appoint.  He  met  them  towards  evening 
in  the  library.  Of  course,  it  became  the  duty  of 
President    Humphrey   to    address    to    him    a   few   words 


14  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

of  welcome  ;  and  then,  of  course,  it  became  necessary 
for  Mr.  Webster  to  make  a  few  remarks  in  response. 
Not  a  student  present  on  that  occasion,  probably,  but 
remembered  ever  after  the  Orator's  graceful  allusions  to 
the  surrounding  scenery,  with  its  educational  influence, 
and  illustration  of  the  value  of  wisdom  and  culture,  by 
reference  to  the  far-famed  bow  which  none  could  draw 
but  the  wise  and  cultured  Ulysses.  Professor  Hackett 
often  reverted  in  after  years  to  that  meeting  and  hear- 
ing of  Daniel  Webster  ;  and  well  he  might,  for  does 
not  Glaucus  boast  in  the  Iliad  of  having  once  seen 
the  hero  Tydeus  in  his  father's  house,  and  does  not 
Antenor  recount  to  his  aged  compeers  the  eloquent 
Ulysses'  long -since  visit  to  the  Trojan  city. 

"Our  commencement  was  on  the  25th  of  August, 
1830.  Hackett  pronounced  the  Valedictory  Oration. 
His  subject  was  the  '  Effects  of  the  Diffusion  of 
Knowledge  on  our  Literature.'  A  copy  of  the  oration, 
preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  College,  lies  before  me 
in  his  own  hand-writing,  which,  by  the  way,  was  then 
neat,  round,  regular  and  easily  legible,  yet  exhibiting 
clearly  enough  the  chirography  out  of  which  rapid 
writing  at  length  developed  the  hieroglyphics  that  his 
printers  and  his  friends  were  sometimes  sorely  puzzled 
to  decipher.  The  main  divisions  of  his  oration,  which 
exhibits  much  of  the  logical  clearness  and  rhetorical 
beauty  of  his  later  style,  are  as  follows  :  '  A  greater 
certainty  of  the  development  of  whatever  mental  energy 
the  nation  contains  may  be  mentioned  as  one  of  the 
effects  of  the  diffusion  of  knowledge.'  '  Another  conse- 
quence  of  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  is  the  creation  of 


INCIDENTS    IN    COLLEGE    LIFE.  1 5 

new  motives  to  intellectual  effort'  '  The  independence 
of  literary  men  is  also  an  effect  important  to  be 
noticed.'  '  It  may  also  be  remarked  that  the  diffusion 
of  knowledge  tends  to  raise  the  public  estimation  of 
literary  talents.'  With  a  complimentary  allusion  to  the 
intelligent  audiences  which  grace  our  literary  anniver- 
saries and  the  indulgence  with  which  they  listen  to  the 
performances,  as  illustrating  the  general  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  the  orator  passes  naturally  and  gracefully 
to  the  valedictory  addresses." 

Since  Dr.  Hackett's  death,  a  friend  relates  having 
been  once  told  that  the  first  writing  of  his  that 
appeared  in  print  was  a  memorial  to  Congress  against 
the  removal  of  the  Indians  in  Georgia.  He  was  then 
a  Senior  in  Amherst  College,  and  at  a  public  meeting 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  draft  such  a  memorial. 
President  Humphrey  was  chairman  of  this  committee, 
and  at  his  request  the  memorial  was  prepared  by  Mr. 
Hackett,  who  represented  his  Class  in  the  committee. 

Dr.  Park  writes  in  a  letter:  "In  the  year  1829  or 
1830,  I  first  became  acquainted  with  Dr.  Hackett, 
before  he  came  to  Andover  Seminary,  while  he  was  a 
member  of  Amherst  College.  Visiting  the  family  of 
President  Humphrey,  I  heard  much  said  of  young 
Hackett,  and  was  introduced  to  him  as  'the  brightest 
scholar  in  College.'  I  said  to  him  that  I  wished  him 
to  take  a  little  care  of  a  young  friend  of  mine  in  the 
College  ;  a  friend  three  years  younger  than  Mr.  Hackett. 
He  seemed  surprised  at  my  request,  and  at  once  replied, 
'Why,  Sir,  I  need  him  to  take  care  of  me.'  He  said 
nothing-    more.     I    was   at   once   called   away   from    him, 


1 6  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

but  his  modesty  then  arrested  my  attention ;  and  I 
can  never  forget  the  humble  cast  of  countenance  with 
which  he  expressed  his  incompetence  to  take  the  care 
of  <7/vybody." 

It  was  preeminently  the  purpose  of  the  founding;  of 
Amherst  College,  in  182 1,  to  impart  Christian  education, 
and  lay  the  foundation  for  an  intelligent,  devoted,  Christian 
Ministry.  Well-nigh  half  of  its  alumni  have  made  this 
the  business  of  their  lives.  It  was  natural  that  Mr. 
Hackett,  from  a  conjunction  of  ancestral  traditions  and 
academical  influences  with  the  new  motives  of  his 
Christian  life,  should  return  to  Andover  for  the  special 
professional  studies  of  this  calling.  The  Theological 
Seminary  there  was  chartered  June  19,  1807,  and  opened 
September  28,  1808.  Its  President,  from  1827  to  his 
death  in  1834,  wTas  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Porter,  D.  D.,  who 
became  Professor  in  181 2.  Moses  Stuart  had  grown 
with  it  from  18 10,  and  was  now  at  the  height  of  the 
fame  which  his  active  mind  and  noble  heart,  his  enthusi- 
asm in  scientific  Biblical  study,  and  his  position  as  its 
pioneer  in  America,  conspired  to  give  him.  Dr.  Hackett 
ever  spoke  of  his  character  with  admiration.  He  re- 
garded him  as  so  many-sided  that  probably  different 
classes,  though  all  impressed  with  his  power  and  fulness, 
carried  away  dissimilar  ideas  of  the  man.  The  image 
which  they  had  of  him  was  not  the  same.  Idem  aliusque 
was  he,  which  has  been  pronounced  the  appropriate  effect 
of  a  great  man.  Dr.  Leonard  Woods  was  the  Professor 
of  Christian  Theology.  Dr.  Thomas  H.  Skinner  was 
from  1833  to  1835  the  Professor  of  Sacred  Rhetoric. 
Dr.    Ralph    Emerson    had    lately    become    Professor   of 


STUDIES    AT    ANDOVER.  I  7 

Ecclesiastical  History.  That  prince  among  scholars,  the 
Rev.  Edward  Robinson,  D.  D.,  having  been  previously 
assistant  instructor,  from  1823  to  1826,  had  just  returned 
from  four  years  of  study  and  travel  in  Europe,  and  been 
appointed  Professor  Extraordinary  of  Sacred  Literature 
at  Andover.  He  soon  after  commenced  the  publication 
of  the  Biblical  Repository,  richly  stored  with  stimulating 
contributions  to  sacred  science,  by  the  best  native  and 
foreign  scholars.  To  be  guided  in  the  studies  of  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testament  under  the  auspices  of  a  Robin- 
son and  a  Stuart,  was  a  boon  which  a  Hackett  could 
appreciate.  Dr.  Park  has  eloquently  told  how  he  profited 
by  it.  The  later  pupils  of  those  eminent  men  recall  the 
respect  in  which  they  held  their  fellow-scholar,  whom 
they  had  helped  to  train,  and  whose  ability  and  promise 
thev  from  the  first  discerned. 

"  1  was  with  him  only  one  year  at  Andover,"  writes 
Dr.  Park,  "he  being  a  Junior  while  I  was  a  Senior.  He 
seemed  utterly  unconscious  of  his  superiority  to  other 
men;  and  he  often  embarrassed  his  companions  by  his 
deference  to  them,  as  if  they  were  superior  to  himself." 

At  the  end  of  his  first  year  in  the  Seminary,  Mr. 
Hackett  was  honored  with  appointment  to  a  tutorship  in 
the  college  which  he  had  so  recently  left.  Even  had  his 
inclinations  been  adverse,  his  circumstances,  in  view  of 
which  he  said  in  after  years  that  he  wondered  how  he 
got  through  the  Theological  Seminary,  would  have 
dictated  his  acceptance.  He  held  this  position  during 
the  collegiate  year  of  183 1-2.  The  Freshman  class  of 
that  year  expressed  their  regard  for  him  by  a  gift  of 
books,  among  which  was  Shakespeare. 


15  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

He  then  returned  to  theological  studies  at  Andover, 
which  he  pursued  to  the  end  of  the  course,  engaging  in 
some  occasional  literary  labor,  as  an  addition  to  his  re- 
sources. Looking  back  to  this  time  in  after  years,  Dr. 
Hackett  has  been  heard  to  remark,  that  the  slamming 
of  a  door  was  the  hinge  upon  which  the  occupation  of 
his  life  turned.  At  Andover  one  day  a  blast  of  wind 
slammed  a  door.  Going  to  adjust  it,  he  was  met  in  the 
hall  by  Professor  Edward  Robinson,  with  the  sheets  of 
his  translation  of  Buttmann's  Greek  Grammar.  "  I  have 
just  been"  said  he,  "to  Mr.  Crosby's  room,  but  he  is  out, 
to  obtain  his  assistance  in  the  correction  of  these  proofs ; 
but  you  are  just  from  teaching  Greek,  and  can  do  the 
thing  as  well."  Mr.  Hackett  expressed  a  willingness  to 
share  the  work  with  Mr.  Crosby  (afterwards  Professor 
Alpheus  Crosby  of  Dartmouth  College).  The  transla- 
tion, from  the  thirteenth  German  edition,  was  published 
in  1833.  In  the  preface  Dr.  Robinson  made  mention  of 
the  services  which  had  been  rendered  by  several  young 
gentlemen  connected  with  the  Theological  Seminary, 
"particularly  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Hackett,  late  Tutor  in  Amherst 
College,  and  Mr.  A.  Crosby,  Professor  elect  of  Languages 
in  Dartmouth  College;  from  both  of  whom  the  public 
has  a  right  to  expect  much  in  future,  for  the  advancement 
both  of  classical  and  of  sacred  learning  in  our  country." 
This  caught  the  eye  of  Dr.  Wayland,  at  Providence, 
when  looking  about  for  a  classical  professor.  Of  the 
incumbent  he  also  desired  some  Hebrew  instruction. 
Thus  Professor  Hackett  was  in'  readiness  for  translation 
to  sole  employment  in  Biblical  studies  at  Newton. 


INVESTIGATIONS    ON    BAPTISM.  1 9 

The  closing  period  of  his  residence  at  Andover  wit- 
nessed the  beginning  of  those  researches  as  to  the  proper 
subjects,  and  ancient  practice,  of  baptism,  which  resulted 
in  a  change  of  Mr.  Hackett's  church  connections.  Their 
occasion,  it  is  stated,  was  his  being  requested,  in  the 
course  of  the  studies  of  the  Senior  year,  to  prepare  an 
essay  on  Infant  Baptism.  Of  interest  at  this  point,  not 
only  for  the  incidental  allusions  to  himself,  but  as,  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  a  delineation  of  experience  similar 
to  his  own,  is  a  paper  by  Dr.  Hackett,  published  in  June, 
1873,  entitled,  "Reminiscences  of  Handel  G.  Nott."  The 
Rev.  Handel  Gershom  Nott  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College  in   1823,  and  died  in   Rochester,  N.  Y.,  May  3d, 

1873. 

"  My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Nott  began  when  he  was 

settled  as  a  Congregational  minister  in  Nashua,  N.  H., 
and  I  was  a  student  in  the  Senior  class  at  Andover.  His 
reputation  at  that  time  was  very  high  among  the  Congre- 
gationalists,  both  as  a  man  of  earnest  piety  and  as  an 
able  minister  of  the  Gospel. 

"Of  the  more  immediate  occasion  of  his  doubts  re- 
specting infant  baptism  (the  question  of  the  mode  seems 
not  to  have  interested  him  much  at  that  time)  I  have  no 
knowledge.  It  so  happened  that  about  this  time  a  few 
of  the  students  at  Andover,  myself  among  them,  then 
engaged  in  the  study  of  ecclesiastical  history,  began  to 
feel  that  the  evidence  for  infant  baptism,  both  from  that 
source  and  from  the  New  Testament,  was  not  so  decisive 
as  we  had  been  accustomed  to  believe.  Mr.  Nott  at  that 
time  was  exercised  with  similar  doubt,  and  hearing  in 
some    way    of    our    experience,   came    to    Andover    and 


20  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

sought  an  interview  with  us.  I  think  that  no  one  of  us 
had  any  previous  acquaintance  with  him.  At  his  request 
we  met  together  in  one  of  the  Seminary  rooms,  and  then 
he  stated  to  us  his  reasons  for  wishing  to  see  us,  and 
invited  us  to  join  with  him  in  prayer  for  Divine  guidance 
and  teaching.  This  prayer,  which  he  offered,  so  child-like, 
and  his  whole  demeanor  so  evincive  of  sincerity  and  a 
desire  to  know  only  the  truth  and  follow  it,  won  my  heart 
almost  at  sight.  I  understood  fully  then  his  motive  for 
introducing  himself  so  abruptly  to  us.  He  was  yearning 
for  sympathy  in  his  perplexities  and  hoped  we  might 
help  him  to  see  his  way  to  a  right  decision.  He  was 
ready,  I  am  sure,  to  accept  this  or  that  issue  of  the 
question ;  but  I  think  his  preference  was  to  be  freed  from 
his  doubts  rather  than  confirmed  in  them. 

"  Mr.  Nott  did  not  break  away  suddenly  from  his  early 
opinions  and  attachments.  No  man  that  I  ever  knew 
was  less  capable  of  acting  from  mere  impulse  or  love  of 
novelty.  The  ties  of  a  long  line  of  clerical  ancestry,  and 
his  early  friendships  at  the  college  and  the  seminary, 
made  it  hard  for  him  to  change  his  relations  in  these 
respects.  He  took  no  step  in  that  direction  except  as 
the  result  of  providential  dealings,  which  made  his  course 
perfectly  clear  and  imperative.  He  stated  his  perplexity 
fully  and  frankly  to  his  church.  It  seemed  to  him  un- 
necessary, so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  to  sunder  the  tie 
between  them  as  pastor  and  people.  He  was  willing,  if 
they  wished  the  connection  to  continue,  to  administer 
baptism  by  immersion  or  sprinkling,  as  they  might  desire, 
and  although  he  could  not  for  himself  administer  infant 
baptism,  he   was  willing   that   other   ministers   who   had 


GRADUATING    ESSAY    AT    ANDOVER.  2  1 

no  such  scruples  should  occupy  his  pulpit  and  baptize 
children  when  the  parents  so  desired.  This  proposition 
led  to  the  calling  of  a  council  for  acting  on  this  question. 
The  eminent  and  excellent  Dr.  Woods,  of  Andover,  was 
invited  to  act  on  this  council. 

"It  so  happened  that  just  at  this  time  I  had  occasion  to 
call  one  day  at  the  study  of  Dr.  Woods,  on  some  errand, 
and  knowing,  I  suppose,  something  of  my  own  state  of 
mind,  he  referred  to  the  case  of  Mr.  Nott.  He  added, 
that  being  unable  to  be  present  at  the  council,  he  had 
prepared  a  paper  to  be  sent ;  and  as  it  might  interest  me 
he  would  read  his  letter  to  me.  It  was  an  able  argument, 
and  foreshadowed  clearly  the  decision  of  the  council.  He 
bore  most  hearty  testimony  to  the  fidelity  and  usefulness 
of  Mr.  Nott's  ministry,  and  of  his  entire  conscientious- 
ness  in  his  views  of  the  proper  subjects  of  Christian 
baptism ;  but  he  urged  that  the  accommodation  proposed 
would  involve  manifest  practical  inconveniences,  and  the 
sanctioning  to  some  extent  of  the  neglect  of  an  ordinance 
which  he  and  others  regarded  as  scriptural  and  obligatory. 

"This  decision  brought  to  an  end  Mr.  Nott's  ministry 
of  eight  years  at  Nashua.  It  had  been  a  period  of  almost 
uninterrupted  religious  interest  from  its  beginning  to  the 
end.  It  is  still  remembered  there  as  a  remarkable  epoch 
in  the  history  of  that  church.  The  step  which  he  was 
obliged  then  to  take  involved  personal  sacrifices  to  which 
it  would  not  subject  one  at  the  present  day." 

Mr.  Hackett's  Graduating  Essay  on  leaving  Andover, 
in  1834,  discussed  the  question,  "What  bearing  ought 
the  Laws  of  Interpretation  to  have  upon  Christian 
Theology?"      It    maintained,    first,   that   it  would    be  as 


22  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

contrary  to  sound  philosophy  to  adopt  any  other  than 
the  inductive,  or  what  is  the  same  thing,  interpretative, 
mode  of  study  in  theology,  as  to  depart  from  this  order 
in  any  of  the  physical  sciences ;  second,  that  to  proceed 
in  any  other  way,  is  certainly  to  treat  the  Scriptures 
most  wiser ipturally ;  to  deny  their  ability  to  make 
the  man  of  God  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all 
good  works ;  to  set  aside  their  high  claim  of  having 
been  written  by  holy  men  of  God,  who  spake  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  essay  was 
careful  not  to  derogate  at  all  from  any  just  prerogative 
of  reason.  It  simply  claimed  that  the  principle  of 
Bacon's  philosophy  is  as  applicable  to  divinity  as  to 
other  sciences,  and  anticipated  that  so  soon  as  this 
principle  came  to  be  applied  to  it,  in  all  its  strictness, 
as  it  had  been  to  them,  a  similar  flood  of  light  would 
be  the  result.  A  change  due  to  an  advance  in  the 
science  of  interpretation  was  noted  as  in  progress, 
according  to  which  the  dispute  which  had  heretofore 
respected  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  would  for  the 
future  have  respect  to  the  authority  of  the  sacred 
writers.  This  was  already  matter  of  history  in  Ger- 
many, and  according  to  appearances  would  soon  cease 
to  be  matter  of  prediction  here.  It  was  reason  for 
rejoicing  to  have  fallen  upon  times  when  inspiration 
was  rejected  rather  than  impute  to  God  such  weak- 
ness as  that  of  having  given  a  revelation  to  mankind 
which  he  could  not  make  intelligible. 


MARRIAGE.  23 


CHAPTER       III. 

1834-1839. 

MARRIAGE. PROFESSORSHIP    AT    BALTIMORE. CHANGE    OF 

CHURCH  CONNECTIONS. PROFESSORSHIP  AT  PROVIDENCE. 

On  the  2 2d  of  September,  1834,  Mr.  Hackett  was 
married,  at  Methuen,  Mass.,  to  his  cousin,  Mary  Wads- 
worth  Balch,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William  Balch, 
whose  principal  settlement  was  at  Salisbury,  Mass.  Her 
mother  was  Mary  Wadsworth,  daughter  of  Dr.  Benjamin 
Wadsworth,  who  was  settled  as  pastor  at  Danvers, 
Mass.,  for  fifty  years,  and  who  was  descended  from  a 
collateral  branch  of  the  family  which  gave  President 
Wadsworth  to   Harvard  College. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hackett  proceeded  to  Baltimore,  where 
the  academic  year  of  1834-5  was  spent,  he  having 
been  appointed  to  a  position  in  Mount  Hope  College 
He  was  already  famous  in  collegiate  circles,  and  was 
naturally  chosen  to  take  charge  of  the  classical  depart- 
ment. It  may  have  become  known,  that,  from  the  position 
in  which  he  found  himself  placed,  owing  to  his  attitude 
on  the  subject  of  baptism,  he  would  welcome  temporary 
occupation  in  teaching. 

They  journeyed  by  stage  to  Worcester,  thence  to 
Hartford,  and  thence  by  boat  to  New  York.  The  railroad 
between  New  York  and  Philadelphia  was  the  first  on 
which  he  recollected  ever  travelling. 


24  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

The  following  particulars  concerning  the  Institution 
have  been  mainly  furnished  by  the  Rev.  Stephen  P. 
Hill,  D.  D.,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  the  Rev.  Franklin 
Wilson,  D.  D„  of  Baltimore. 

It  was  founded  in  1829,  by  Frederick  Hall,  a  gentle- 
man of  erudition  and  piety,  who  had  been  Professor 
of  Chemistry  in  Middlebury  College,  Vermont.  It  had 
no  sectarian  origin  or  character,  and  its  great  business 
was  to  thoroughly  train  youth  for  entrance  into  the 
higher  American  colleges.  Rev.  Messrs.  N.  T.  Dutton, 
Leverett  Griggs,  D.  D.,  Professor  Lyman  H.  Atwater, 
D.  D.,  and  John  O.  Colton,  were  teachers  there  for 
short  periods.  It  was  incorporated  as  a  college  in  1833, 
but  had  very  few  students  in  the  collegiate  department. 
The  building,  which  was  a  very  imposing  one,  was 
situated  in  a  beautiful  rural  spot,  on  a  hill  of  com- 
manding eminence,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  or  two 
miles  from  the  citv  of  Baltimore,  though  within  its 
limits,  out  to  which  the  city  has  now  nearly  if  not 
quite  extended.  In  the  year  1835,  Mr.  Hall  disposed  of 
his  interest  in  the  college.  The  property  finally  passed 
into  the  hands  of  a  benevolent  society,  and  has  been 
for  many  years  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  an  asylum. 

Here,  as  always,  Professor  Hackett's  reputation  as  a 
teacher  was  of  the  highest.  The  Faculty  at  that  time 
is  described  as  "  a  small  but  able  one,  of  which  he  was 
the  principal  light  and  attraction.  His  connection  with 
Mount  Hope  was  eminently  useful,  and  he  not  only 
impressed  his  pupils  in  the  most  salutary  manner,  but 
left  behind  him  the  endearing  record  of  a  most 
accomplished    scholar   and    eminently    good    man."     Dr. 


FURTHER    RESEARCHES    ON     BAPTISM.  25 

Wilson  writes:  "In  September,  1836,  I  left  Mount 
Hope  and  entered  the  Freshman  Class  at  Brown  Uni- 
versity. I  have  no  doubt  that  my  father  was  induced 
to  send  me  there  because  Professor  Hackett  was  there." 

In  this  year  appeared  the  first  of  those  contributions 
from  his  pen  to  periodical  literature,  which  continued 
for  forty  years.  The  article  was  published  in  the 
Literary  and  Theological  Review,  No.  IV.,  December, 
1834,  conducted  by  Leonard  Woods,  Jr.,  afterwards 
President  of  Bowdoin  College.  Its  heading  was :  "The 
Intellectual  Dependence  of  Men  on  God,  by  H.  B. 
Hackett,  Mt.   Hope  College,  Baltimore,  Md." 

The  investigations  on  baptism  which  had  been  begun 
at  Andover  were  carried  forward  during  this  year. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Hill,  who  was  settled  in  Baltimore  in 
1834,  has  written  of  this  time  as  follows:— 

"  My  first  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Hackett  was  made 
at  Baltimore,  in  the  Fall  of  1834,  while  he  was 
Professor  in   Mount   Hope  College. 

"  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  that  period  was  the 
transition  period  of  his  life.  It  certainly  was,  so  far 
as  his  change  of  views  upon  the  subject  of  baptism 
was  concerned.  The  foremost  man  in  his  classical  and 
theological  studies,  both  at  Amherst  and  Andover,  he 
was  regarded,  probably,  as  the  most  promising  candi- 
date for  honorable  and  eminent  service  in  the  pulpit 
of  the  Congregational  Church  at  the  time.  But,  from 
the  first  of  his  training  under  Professor  Stuart  (whose 
particular  favorite  he  was),  his  mind  was  not  settled 
as  to  their  views  and  practice  of  this  ordinance  ;  and, 
while    in    Baltimore,    he    made    it    the    subject   of   most 


26  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

thorough  investigation.  I  know  that  he  not  only  read 
and  searched  the  Scriptures,  but  he  went  through,  in 
the  most  patient  and  thorough  manner,  all  the  Fathers, 
reading  them  in  their  originals.  The  result  to  which 
he  came  you  know.  With  the  clearest  mental  vision, 
and  the  now  decided  conviction  of  the  truth,  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  offer  himself  as  a  candidate  for  baptism 
to  the  First  Church,  of  which  I  was  then  pastor.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  clear,  and,  in  every  respect,  the 
interesting  experience  which  he  gave  to  the  church  at 
that  time.  It  was  such  a  statement  as  I  never  heard 
before  on  such  an  occasion,  of  the  reason  of  the  hope 
that  was  in  him,  and  of  the  act  which  he  desired  to 
perform  —  so  entire,  so  convincing,  so  edifying,  so 
conclusive,  so  exhaustive.  I  remember  particularly  this 
remark,  and  I  think  it  will  bear  the  best  of  examina- 
tion, '  that  scarcely  any  two  of  the  advocates  of  the 
other  side  of  the  question  were  known  to  agree  in 
their  theory  for  its  observance.'  " 

Dr.  Wilson  says :  "  Professor  Hackett  became  a 
Baptist  in  1835.  He  related  his  experience  to  the 
First  Baptist  Church  of  Baltimore,  July  3d,  1835,  and 
I  have  often  heard  my  uncle,  Jonas  Wilson,  Esq.,  say 
that  he  never  heard  a  more  satisfactory  and  conclusive 
argument  in  favor  of  Baptist  principles  than  that  given 
by   Professor  Hackett  at  that  time." 

It  is  said  that  Dr.  Woods,  of  the  Seminary  in 
Andover,  attended  the  meeting  there  at  which  Mr. 
Hackett's  application  for  a  letter  of  dismissal  from  the 
Congregational  Church,  of  which  he  had  been  a 
member,  was  presented.     He   spoke  with   tenderness  of 


PROFESSOR    IN     BROWN    UNIVERSITY.  2J 

his  former  pupil,  and  in  a  letter  whieh  accompanied 
that  granted  by  the  church,  expressed  satisfaction  with 
the  manner  in  which  the  question  of  duty  had  been 
decided,  and  said  that  it  was  his  prayer  and  belief  that 
this  accession  to  the  Baptist  denomination  would  be  a 
blessing  to  the  cause  of  Christ. 

He  was  baptized,  as  Dr.  Hill  relates,  "on  a  beautiful 
Sabbath  morning,  in  an  estuary  formed  by  the  Patuxent 
River  and  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  the  place  being  called 
the  Spring  Gardens.  After  this  time  he  preached  for  me 
occasionally ;  his  sermons  being  marked  by  great  power 
of  thought  and  spiritual  unction.  Had  he  chosen  the 
pulpit  for  his  field,  I  think  he  would  have  been  one  of 
the  most  impressive  and  useful  preachers  of  his  day." 

In  September,  1835,  Mr.  Hackett  became  Professor 
in  Brown  University,  Providence,  R.  I.,  with  the  title, 
at  first,  of  Adjunct  Professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
Languages  and  Literatures;  in  1838,  of  Professor  of 
Hebrew  Literature.  Dr.  Edward  Robinson's  published 
commendation  of  Mr.  Hackett  has  been  mentioned  as 
engaging  the  attention  of  Dr.  Wayland.  Professor 
Stuart  too,  being  about  this  time  at  Providence  (as  Dr. 
Caswell  related  to  a  small  circle,  on  the  day  of  Dr.  Hack- 
ett's  funeral,  at  Newton),  had  advised  Dr.  Wayland,  if  he 
wanted  to  get  a  man  that  would  be  eminent,  to  get  Mr. 
Hackett.  The  circumstances  and  motives  under  which 
he  accepted  this  position — a  step  decisive  of  the  course 
of  his  life — receive  explanation  in  the  following  extract 
from  a  letter  written  by  him  to  Dr.  Hill,  dated  Provi- 
dence, October  17,  1835. 

"It  may  have  been  with  some  surprise  that  you  heard 


28  HORATIO    BALCH     HACKETT. 

of  the  decision  which  has  brought  me  to  this  place.  It 
was  as  far  from  my  thoughts  when  I  left  Baltimore,  as  it 
could  have  been  from  yours.  It  was  a  trying  question  to 
settle.  I  resigned,  in  disposing  of  it  as  I  did,  strong  and 
long  cherished  hopes.  It  was,  I  confess,  a  step  taken 
somewhat  in  the  dark;  yet,  so  far  as  I  am  conscious,  I 
followed  the  best  light  I  had.  Probability  is  our  guide; 
and  that  intimated  to  me,  as  I  thought,  in  no  ambiguous 
terms,  that  I  could  never  run  a  long  course  in  the 
ministrv.  To  decide  to  preach  seemed  like  consenting 
to  lay  myself  speedily  in  the  grave.  Could  I  indeed  have 
heard  the  voice  of  duty  urging  me  to  this  sacrifice,  I 
hope  I  should  have  had  grace  to  obey  the  dictate.  But 
this  did  not  appear  required.  Another  door  of  being 
useful  was  opened  to  me;  and  in  entering  it,  I  trust  I 
have  not  wandered  from  the  proper  course.  If  so,  let  it 
soon  be  apparent ;  and  let  me  be  where  God  would  place 
me,  although  in  the  cabin  of  the  Indian,  or  kraal  of  the 
Hottentot. 

"It  is  impossible  for  me  to  say  much  yet  of  my  new 
situation.  I  am  but  a  stranger  here.  It  will  be  indeed 
a  wonder,  if  a  single  year  can  produce  so  strong  an 
attachment  to  the  place  as  I  conceived  in  that  time  for 
Baltimore.  The  latter  part  of  my  residence  at  the  South 
was  agreeable  to  me  in  no  ordinary  degree."  The  letter 
closes  with  remembrances  to  friends,  inquiries  after  the 
welfare  of  the  church  in  Baltimore,  and  expressions  of 
affection  for  his  friend,  its  pastor. 

Dr.  Wayland  had  been  President  of  Brown  University 
about  eight  years,  having  been  inaugurated  in  1827.  He 
was  now  entering  his  second  year  in  the  professorship  of 


DR.   SAMSONS    REMINISCENCES.  29 

Moral  Philosophy  and  Metaphysics.  The  Rev.  Romeo 
Elton,  D.  D.,  had  occupied  for  ten  years  the  chair  of  the 
Latin  and  Greek  Languages  and  Literatures.  Rev.  Dr. 
Alexis  Caswell  had  been,  since  1828,  Professor  of  Mathe- 
matics and  Natural  Philosophy.  Professor  George  I. 
Chace  had  been  two  years  connected  with  the  College, 
and  Professor  William  Gammell  entered  the  Faculty  in 
the  same  year  with  Dr.  Hackett.  Rev.  Arthur  S.  Train, 
D.  D.,  was  at  this  time  a  tutor.  The  Rev.  G.  W. 
Samson,  D.  D.,  late  President  of  Columbian  College, 
was  a  student  at  Brown  University  at  this  time.  After 
Dr.  Hackett's  death,  he  was  appointed,  together  with  the 
Rev.  Drs.  Thomas  Armitage  and  James  B.  Simmons,  to 
prepare  for  the  Ministers'  Conference  of  New  York,  a 
commemorative  paper,  from  which  the  following  is 
taken : — 

"The  personal  recollections  of  the  writer  commence 
with  Prof.  Hackett's  entrance  on  his  duties  as  Assistant 
Professor  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Languages  at  Brown 
University.  From  his  first  appearance  in  the  recitation- 
room  of  the  Sophomore  class,  his  marked  characteristics 
as  a  scholar  and  teacher  were  revealed.  His  small  but 
wiry  frame,  his  carelessly-parted  black  hair,  his  keen  eye 
sparkling  through  his  glasses,  his  prompt  and  thorough 
conduct  of  recitation,  and  his  reserved  strength  of  scholar- 
ship, only  called  out  when  excited  by  sharp  questioning 
or  the  interest  of  an  examination,  subdued  every  pupil  to 
respect,  and  inspired  the  zeal  of  true  students.  The  first 
morning,  a  single  remark  from  his  lips  gave  direction  to 
the  entire  life  of  some  of  his  pupils.  The  text-book  was 
Horace.    The  Professor  was  asked  what  edition  he  would 


30  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

recommend.  His  reply  was,  'Young  gentlemen,  I  advise 
those  of  you  who  wish  to  be  scholars,  to  buy  the  German 
editions  of  all  Latin  and  Greek  authors,  and  get  out  your 
translations  without  any  notes  whatever.' 

"  Several  characteristics  of  the  manner,  as  distinct  from 
the  matter,  of  Professor  Hackett's  teaching,  are  fresh  in 
the  recollection  of  his  pupils.  The  moment  the  quiet, 
modest  little  man,  passing  from  the  chapel  through  the 
crowd,  took  his  chair,  he  was  a  commodore  on  the 
quarter-deck  in  the  heat  of  an  engagement,  perfectly 
inspired  by  his  enthusiasm.  Again,  he  was  there  not  to 
impress  his  views  on  pupils,  but  to  draw  them  out ;  and, 
like  a  commander,  to  be  sustained  by  the  men  he  led. 
The  object  was  not  so  much  to  teach  as  to  make  teachers. 
Yet  again,  the  slow  mind,  past  whose  snail-pace  his  quick 
thought  shot,  like  a  hare  past  the  tortoise,  he  did  not 
delight  to  outstrip,  but  rather  to  gently  lead  in  his  course. 
Hence,  when  he  found  that  his  explanations  had  implied 
too  much  advancement  in  his  less  favored  pupils,  he 
would  go  back,  and  with  fresh  effort  seek  to  simplify,  and 
thus,  sometimes,  to  exalt  the  truth  before  half-expressed. 
Still  again,  to  make  sure  that  he  had  not  left  his  pupils 
behind,  he  would  call  for  questions ;  and  even  when  the 
majority  saw  that  the  pupil,  rather  than  the  Professor, 
had  been  at  fault  in  the  lack  of  comprehension,  no  severe 
censure  could  be  drawn  from  his  lips.  Still,  once  more, 
he  had  not  read  in  vain  the  apostle's  exhortation,  "be 
courteous,"  for  the  virtue  was  doubly  implanted  in  him, 
first  by  nature  and  second  by  grace.  As  a  specimen : 
one  morning,  in  his  half  playful,  half  inspiriting  way,  he 
stopped  a  pupil   who  was   reciting,  and  called  suddenly 


RECOLLECTIONS    BY    STUDENTS.  3  I 

on  another  whose  eye  he  saw  off  his  hook.  The  true 
scholar,  as  he  proved  to  be,  began  first  two  or  three  words 
before  and  then  two  or  three  words  after  his  predecessor, 
and  then  sat  down  displeased  with  his  Professor.  At  the 
close  of  the  recitation,  he  called  the  aggrieved  boy  to  his 
side,  and  with  wonderful  compliment  as  well  as  sympathy, 
exclaimed:  '  Ouandoque  bonus  dormitat  Homerus' — 
sometimes  good  Homer  nods.  When  informed  that 
weakness  of  eyes  was  the  pupil's  excuse,  he  was  won  to  a 
friendship  lasting  as  life." 

"The  writer  will  never  forget,"  says  Rev.  Henry  M. 
Dexter,  D.  D.,  "the  kindness  received  from  Dr.  Hackett 
—then  Professor  of  Latin  at  Brown  University — when  in 
1836  and  1837,  coming  a  mere  boy,  just  from  home, 
under  his  instruction;  nor  how  gently  he  bore  with  all 
classical  crudenesses,  and  with  what  a  fine  and  generous 
sympathy  he  loved  to  lift  what  was  really  worthy  of  a 
student  in  his  pupils  daily  upward  toward  a  higher  and 
broader  life.  Nor  does  the  vision  of  his  nervous  and 
magnetic  face — comparatively  youthful  then — fade  out  of 
the  pleasantest  vistas  of  memory." 

"For  the  first  six  months,"  writes  Dr.  Wilson,  "I  was 
under  his  special  care  and  guardianship,  boarding  with  him 
at  the  'Mansion  House.'  I  formed  a  very  warm  attach- 
ment to  him  as  a  kind  and  judicious  friend,  and  always 
cherished  the  highest  regard  for  him  as  a  teacher  and 
scholar." 

The  American  Biblical  Repository,  for  January,  1838, 
contained  an  article:  "On  the  Infrequency  of  the  Al- 
lusions to  Christianity  in  Greek  and  Roman  writers. 
Translated  from  the  Latin  of  H.  G.  Tzschirner,  by  Pro- 
fessor H.  B.  Hackett." 


32  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

Professor  Hackett  remained  four  years  in  Brown 
University.  As  connected  with  the  close  of  his  residence 
in  Providence,  and  the  beginning  of  that  in  Newton,  the 
concluding  part  of  Dr.  Hackett's  paper  on  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Nott  may  be  fitly  given  here: — 

"Several  years  after  this  we  were  brought  together 
again,  at  Providence,  R.  I.  He  was  called  there  to  supply 
the  pulpit  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  during  the  absence 
of  the  pastor,  Dr.  Hague.  At  the  close  of  this  period  of 
service  here,  which  lasted  several  months,  Mr.  Nott  was 
invited  to  the  Federal  Street  Baptist  Church,  in  Boston. 
He  was  recommended  to  that  church  by  the  special 
testimony  of  Dr.  \Ya viand,  who,  as  one  of  his  hearers  at 
Providence,  had  been  led  to  form  the  highest  opinion  of 
his  qualification  for  that  field  of  service.  In  the  mean- 
time I  had  become  a  professor  in  the  Newton  Theological 
Institution,  and  had  thus  an  opportunity  to  renew  and 
extend  my  intimacy  with  Mr.  Nott.  He  preached  the 
sermon  at  my  ordination  at  Newton  on  entering  on  my 
professorship  there.  After  his  removal  to  Maine  I  saw 
him  less  frequently,  but  always  felt  his  presence,  though 
separated,  almost  as  much  as  if  we  were  in  the  habit  of 
daily  association.  That  was  one  of  his  marked  peculiari- 
ties, that  though  out  of  sight,  he  left  with  his  friends  a 
sense  of  personal  presence  which  made  him  a  helper, 
reprover,  guide;  so  that  once  knowing  him,  one  felt  that 
he  was  never  separated  from  him." 


ORDINATION    AT    NEWTON.  T>3 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1839-1842. 

BEGINNING     OF     PROFESSORSHIP     AT    NEWTON    AND    ORDI- 
NATION.  FIRST  FOREIGN  TOUR. THEOLOGICAL  STUD- 
IES    IN     GERMANY. SERVICES    TO    BAPTISTS 

IN    DENMARK. 

On  the  fifth  of  August,  1839,  Mr.  Hackett  was  elected 
Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  and  Interpretation  in 
Newton  Theological  Institution,  and  removed  to  Newton 
Centre  in  September  following,  where  he  was  ordained 
to  the  Christian  Ministry,  December  8th,  1839. 

The  subjoined  account  is  from  the  Christian  Watch- 
man, for  December   13th,   1839: — 

"Ordination. — By  an  Ecclesiastical  Council,  convened 
at  the  request  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Newton, 
on  the  8th  inst.,  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  Professor  of 
Biblical  Literature  and  Interpretation,  in  the  Newton 
Theological  Institution,  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the 
gospel.  The  following  was  the  order  of  the  public 
exercises  on  the  occasion :  Reading  of  Scriptures,  by 
Rev.  Professor  Ripley ;  Introductory  Prayer,  by  Rev. 
W.  H.  Shailer,  of  Brookline  ;  Sermon,  by  Rev.  H.  G. 
Nott,  of  Boston  ;  Ordaining  Prayer,  by  Rev.  N.  Med- 
bery,  of  Watertown  ;  Charge,  by  Rev.  Professor  Chase  ; 
Right  Hand  of  Fellowship,  by  Rev.  Professor  Sears; 
Concluding  Prayer,  by  Rev.  J.  S.  Eaton,  of  Hartford,  Ct. 


34  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

The  sermon  was  founded  upon  the  words  of  our  Lord 
to  his  disciples,  Luke  xxiv,  49  :  '  But  tarry  ye  in  the 
city  of  Jerusalem  until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on 
hieh,'  and  was  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  sentiment, 
'  that  the  minister  of  the  gospel  needs  an  extraordinary 
measure  of  the  Spirit  of  God.'  The  whole  discourse  was 
practical  and  spiritual,  and  we  presume  every  minister 
present  retired  with  a  heart  responding  to  the  truth 
uttered  by  the  apostle,  '  I  have  planted,  Apollos  watered, 
but  God  gave  the  increase.'  And  we  hope  that  this 
truth  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  labor  for  the 
conversion  of  sinners,  and  the  spiritual  prosperity  of  the 
saints." 

Professor  Hackett  was  the  fifth  on  the  list  of  fifteen 
professors  whom  Newton  Theological  Institution  has 
had.  His  predecessors  were  still  connected  with  the 
Institution  when  he  joined  it,  with  the  exception  of  the 
lamented  Rev.  James  D.  Knowles,  who  died  the  year 
before.  They  were :  the  Rev.  Irah  Chase,  D.  D.,  the 
Rev.  Henry  J.  Ripley,  D.  D.,  and  the  Rev.  Barnas 
Sears,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

In  1823,  Professor  Chase,  then  of  Columbian  College, 
had  been  at  Halle,  Leipzig  and  Gottingen ;  and  had 
prosecuted  in  Holland,  as  well  as  in  Germany,  his  favorite 
researches  in  church  history.  At  the  end  of  November, 
1825,  he  commenced  alone  the  work  of  instruction  at 
Newton,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Massachusetts  Baptist 
Education  Society.  He  had  intermitted  his  labors  in 
1832-3,  to  cross  the  ocean  a  second  time,  to  inaugurate 
a  Baptist  Mission  in  France.  This  was  not  the  only 
occasion  on  which  he   rendered   delicate   and   successful 


THE    FACULTY    AT    NEWTON.  35 

service  to  Christian  missions.  Dr.  Hackett  said  of  him, 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1864: — 

"  His  agency  in  founding-  the  Newton  Theological 
Institution  was  no  doubt  the  great  monumental  act  of  his 
life,  as  it  is  also  the  best  known ;  but  he  was  active  and 
influential  in  other  ways  and  in  other  spheres.  I  am 
confident,  that,  as  the  beginnings  of  this  later  growth  and 
activity  of  our  denomination  are  studied  more  and  more, 
the  name  of  I  rah  Chase  will  come  out  to  view  more  and 
more  distinctly,  and  will  take  its  place  among  the  names 
which  future  generations  will  cherish  with  gratitude  and 
honor. 

"  Dr.  Chase  held  with  great  tenacity  the  peculiar  views 
of  the  denomination  to  which  he  belonged.  He  believed 
them  to  be  not  only  true,  but  important  to  the  best  wel- 
fare of  men  and  the  purity  of  the  Christian  church.  No 
one  among  us  has  examined  these  points  more  thoroughly 
or  discussed  them  more  frequently  or  with  greater  ability. 
His  contributions  to  this  particular  department  of  study 
are,  I  suppose,  not  less  valuable  certainly  than  those  of 
any  Baptist  writer  who   has    appeared  in  this   country." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Ripley  entered  into  his  rest  about  six 
months  before  Dr.  Hackett's  decease.  For  the  Greater 
part  of  nearly  fifty  years,  from  1826  till  1875,  his  activities, 
in  different  spheres  of  service,  as  Professor,  and  Librarian, 
were  largely  devoted  to  the  Institution  at  Newton.  He 
is  known  as  an  accomplished  scholar  and  writer,  and 
a  devout  Christian.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard 
College,  in  18 16.  To  those  who  saw  the  well-preserved, 
small,  quietly  active,  courteous  man,  in  his  last  days  at 
Newton,  it  was   startling  to   think   that   well-nigh   sixty 


J 


6  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 


years  had  passed  since  he  was  the  contemporary  at  Cam- 
bridge, of  Prescott,  Palfrey,  and  Sparks,  in  the  classes 
just  before  him,  and  of  Bancroft  and  Cushing,  in  the 
class  that  followed  his  own. 

The  Rev.  Barnas  Sears  had  now  been  four  years  con- 
nected with  the  Institution,  having  been  appointed  to  a 
professorship  after  his  return  from  an  extended  residence 
in  Germany  for  purposes  of  literary  culture.  He  had 
been  in  the  lecture  rooms  of  Hermann  and  Bockh,  an 
early  figure  in  that  procession  of  American  pilgrims,  which 
had  been  headed  by  Everett  and  Ticknor.  He  had  also 
been  the  instrument  of  distinguished  service  to  religion,  at 
the  origination  of  the  Baptist  Mission  in  Germany. 

With  these  scholarly  men  as  associates, —  Professor 
Chase,  in  the  department  of  Ecclesiastical  History;  Pro- 
fessor Ripley,  in  that  of  Sacred  Rhetoric  and  Pastoral 
Duties;  Professor  Sears,  in  that  of  Christian  Theology; — 
Professor  Hackett  was  now  fairly  inducted  into  the  great 
occupation  of  his  life, — the  advancement  of  Biblical 
scholarship. 

"Many  of  his  college  pupils,"  says  Dr.  Samson,  "enjoyed 
his  instruction  in  his  new  field.  Here  a  new  and  limitless 
field  of  scholarship  was  developed,  for  the  whole  range 
of  literature,  Asiatic  and  European,  was  called  into  requi- 
sition in  seeking  a  complete  interpretation  of  the  inspired 
revelations  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  Few 
German  and  still  fewer  American  philologists  were  the 
peers  of  Professor  Hackett  in  their  comprehension  of  the 
varied  elements  that  make  a  master  in  the  department  of 
Biblical  Exegesis.  Professor  Hackett  was  a  rare  teacher 
in  his  own  chair. 


DR.    SAMSONS    REMINISCENCES.  ^ 

"  Professor  Hackett,  moreover,  was  a  practical  example 
of  Coleridge's  maxim,  that  to  know  fully  any  one  thing, 
a  scholar  must  have  a  general  knowledge  of  all  things. 
He  knew  that  his  department  bore  a  close  relationship  to 
the  other  three  embraced  in  the  curriculum  of  a  theologi- 
cal seminary;  that  of  Biblical  theology,  that  of  church 
history,  and  that  of  pulpit  rhetoric  and  pastoral  duties. 
In  each  of  these  his  remarks  at  times  showed  comprehen- 
sive thought.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  when 
students  fresh  from  the  discussions  of  Gospel  doctrines 
would  press  Professor  Hackett  with  the  question,  'Does 
not  Paul  teach  this  doctrine?'  he  would  always  show 
himself  abreast  of  the  Theological  Professor  in  his  analy- 
sis. The  most  masterly  of  his  replies  when,  one  day, 
several  keen  questioners  were  pressing  him,  was  this : 
'  Young  brethren,  I  think  it  quite  as  important  to  note 
what  Paul  does  not  say  as  what  he  does  say.'  In  the 
history  of  doctrines  and  of  ecclesiastical  practices,  the 
change  of  church  relations  which  Dr.  Hackett  had  in 
youth  been  obliged  to  make,  gave  him  an  outline  of  the 
entire  range  of  human  thought  when  brought  into  con- 
tact with  the  sacred  Scriptures,  which  could  but  add 
precision  in  his  work  as  an  interpreter.  And  yet  so  nice 
was  his  sense  of  personal  propriety  and  of  social  courtesy, 
that  never  in  the  class-room  or  the  meeting  of  Christian 
ministers  did  he  allude  to  any  distinctions  in  denomi- 
national views;  for  he  seemed  never  to  allow  himself 
to  imagine  that  Christians  could  be  other  than  'of 
one  mind  and  of  one  heart'  Yet,  again,  conscious 
how  his  close  study  weakened  his  physical  frame,  laboring 
to  repress,  yet  to  give  reins  to  his  fervent  soul  when  he 


38  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

addressed  an  audience,  some  of  his  pupils  will  never  forget 
his  heartfelt  congratulations  when  he  listened  to  mere 
youth,  who  could  make  the  learning  acquired  in  his  class- 
room a  power  to  move  men  whom  his  feeble  voice  could 
not  reach. 

"  Those  who,  both  in  college  and  in  the  theological 
seminary,  were  favored  to  have  Dr.  Hackett  as  an  in- 
structor, cannot  but  remember  him  as  Timothy  must  have 
regarded  Paul  when  the  great  apostle,  in  his  advanced 
life,  addressed  him,  thus :  '  My  own,  my  dearly  beloved 
son  in  the  faith.'" 

After  he  had  been  two  years  at  Newton,  Professor 
Hackett  made  the  first  of  his  five  voyages  to  the  old 
world.  His  purpose  was  a  year's  residence  in  Germany, 
to  enjoy  the  opportunities  of  professional  study  at  the 
Universities  of  Halle  and  Berlin.  He  sailed  from  Boston 
Sept.  ist,  1 84 1,  with  Professor  John  L.  Lincoln,  LL.  D., 
who  had  lately  been  tutor  at  Brown  University,  as  his 
companion,  and  arrived  at  Liverpool  on  the  evening  of 
Sept.  14th.  Less  than  a  week  was  spent  in  London.  It 
included,  besides  the  sights  of  the  city  and  of  Windsor, 
a  visit  to  Parliament,  when  Sir  Robert  Peel  had  just 
become  premier,  with  a  large  and  well-organized  majority 
in  both  houses;  and  also  an  opportunity  of  hearing  the 
Honorable  and  Reverend  Baptist  W.  Noel  preach,  who 
was  still,  and  until  1849,  an  Episcopalian  clergyman.  He 
sailed  for  Hamburg  the  2 2d  of  September,  arriving  on 
the  twenty-fourth.  He  stayed  here  several  days,  attend- 
ing Sabbath  service  at  the  Rev.  Mr.  Oncken's  church, 
although  without  meeting  him,  as  he  was  absent  on  an 
extended  missionary  tour.     He  wrote  to  the  Missionary 


GESENIUS    AND    TIIOLUCK.  39 

Board  in  high  terms  of  the  value  of  Mr.  Oncken's  labors, 
which  he  took  pains  to  ascertain,  and  also  with  respect  to 
the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  brethren  in  Denmark. 
Thence,  by  way  of  Magdeburg,  he  came  to  Leipzig,  at 
the  end  of  the  month,  remaining  there  nearly  a  fortnight, 
and  receiving  many  courtesies  from  that  Christian  gentle- 
man, his  friend,  Mr.  C.  C.  Tauchnitz,  of  the  great  publish- 
ing house.  Of  sixty  professors  in  this  University,  found- 
ed in  1409,  the  oldest  in  Germany  except  that  of  Prague, 
not  one  could  be  accounted  orthodox.  He  first  saw 
Tholuck,  at  Halle,  on  Sabbath,  October  twelfth,  going 
out  from  Leipzig,  and  returning  on  the  same  evening. 
Two  days  later,  he  commenced  his  residence  at  Halle, 
which  lasted  six  months.  During  this  whole  year  he  was 
extending  by  systematic  study  his  knowledge  of  the 
German  language,  which  he  had  long  read  with  facility. 
When  the  lectures  began,  October  25th,  he  understood 
Tholuck  pretty  well.  Three  days  after,  he  listened  to  the 
great  Gesenius,  who,  five  days  before  the  next  28th  of 
October  came  round,  had  died.  It  was  to  the  lectures  of 
these  two  eminent  men  that  Professor  Hackett  chiefly 
devoted  his  attention.  Gesenius  had  announced  a  course 
upon  the  Psalms,  but,  as  is  frequently  the  custom,  departed 
from  the  programme,  and  gave  one  upon  Genesis.  Tho- 
luck, in  like  manner,  had  announced  the  Passion  and 
Resurrection,  but  gave  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Tholuck  impressed  his  new  auditor  as  displaying  astonish- 
ing activity  of  mind.  The  veteran,  who  has  lived  to 
mourn  his  American  friend,  but  whose  own  frail  life  had 
been  almost  despaired  of  twenty  years  before  the  time 
under  review,  was  at  the  height  of  the  powers  which  he 


4-0  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

so  long  maintained.  He  had  a  prodigious  memory.  He 
devoted  in  general  about  three  hours  to  study,  from  six 
to  nine,  A.  M.  He  would  lecture  four  hours  during  the 
day,  and  invite  students  to  tea  at  eight  in  the  evening. 
His  conversation  was  very  stimulating,  and  marked  by 
appreciation  of  the  merits  of  his  contemporaries,  even 
when,  as  in  the  case  of  Ewald,  whose  Commentary  on 
Canticles  he  praised,  there  were  great  differences  in  their 
general  views. 

While  the  reaction  from  rationalism  had  been  con- 
siderably marked  in  fifteen  years,  its  sway  was  still 
powerful.  It  was  in  1825  that  Tholuck  delivered  his 
memorable  speech  against  the  Rationalists,  in  London. 
At  his  first  lecture  in  Halle,  the  room  was  crowded  with 
hostile  students,  and  even  members  of  the  Faculty  were 
present  with  the  same  spirit.  There  was  great  confusion, 
and  he  long  endured  molestation.  Even  up  to  this 
period,  Hengstenberg,  though  he  now  began  to  be  re- 
spected, had  been  ridiculed.  Tholuck  could  but  lately 
mention  the  name  of  Olshausen  without  eliciting  the 
same  sentiment.  About  this  time  Havernick  was  ap- 
pointed Professor  at  Konigsberg,  succeeding  a  rationalist. 
Two  hundred  students  went  out  as  he  discoursed,  and  in 
the  evening  serenaded  his  rival  for  the  post. 

When  Tholuck  preached,  he  appeared  in  his  greatest 
power,  and  it  seemed  to  his  American  auditor,  on  the  first 
occasion,  that  he  had  never  witnessed  such  profound 
attention  given  to  a  discourse  from  beginning  to  end. 
His  fortnightly  social  meetings,  of  an  instructive  and 
devotional  character,  were  very  beneficial  to  the  students. 

Gesenius  at  this  time  was  just  bringing  out  the  four- 


CELEBRATION    AT    HALLE.  4 1 

teenth  edition  of  his  smaller  Hebrew  Grammar.  After 
hearing  him  lecture,  his  new  listener  says:  "His  vivacity 
is  great,  and  the  effect  of  it  shows  how  important  a 
qualitv  it  is  to  every  teacher."  He  was  given  to  amusing 
his  audience,  and  laughed  frequently,  sometimes  without 
any  response  from  his  auditors.  He  often,  at  this  period, 
omitted  lectures,  posting  up  a  notice  that  he  was  unwell, 
which  the  students  suspected  of  being  a  pretext  to  secure 
time  for  more  uninterrupted  private  study.  To  the  young 
American  professor  of  thirty-three  years,  calling  upon 
him,  the  German  of  fifty-five  seemed  old,  but  zealous 
and  young  in  studies.  On  one  such  occasion,  Gesenius 
showed  him  the  first  Hebrew  grammar  ever  written  by  a 
Christian,  that  of  Reiichlin.  On  another,  he  animadverted 
on  Hegelianism  as  having  no  God,  no  immortality,  and 
uncertainty  about  Jesus  Christ. 

Another  lecturer  to  whom  he  listened  was  Professor 
Rodiger,  reputed  the  ablest  Arabic  scholar  in  Germany. 

About  a  fortnight  after  his  arrival,  was  celebrated  the 
third  Jubilceum  of  the  Reformation  in  Halle.  Appro- 
priate services  took  place  in  the  Aula  of  the  University, 
including  an  address  by  Tholuck,  mainly  historical,  review- 
ing the  theological  history  of  the  University.  After  a 
Latin  address  by  Wegscheider,  Dean  of  the  Faculty, 
various  academic  degrees  were  conferred,  among  them 
that  of  Doctor  of  Theology  upon  Professor  Robinson, 
specially  for  his  services  as  an  explorer,  —  "Eduardum 
Robinson,  theologies  apud  Nco-Eboraccnscs  in  America 
Profcssorem,  qui  itinere  nupcr  in  Terrain  Sane  tain 
suscepto,  gcographiaiu  saerani  mirifice  illustravit" 

Just  before  the  Christmas  holidays,  the  students  sere- 


42  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

naded  the  distinguished  Liszt,  who  had  been  playing  for 
several  days  in  the  place,  his  concerts  being  attended  by 
several  of  the  professors,  including  Gesenius  and  M tiller. 

At  a  celebration,  January  26th,  1842,  in  honor  of  the 
Christening  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  attended  by  professors 
of  the  University,  citizens,  and  English  residents  of  Halle, 
Professor  Hackett  made  a  speech,  offering  in  conclusion, 
the  sentiment,  "The  prosperity,  now  and  ever,  of  the 
University  of  Halle-Wittenberg?"  Other  toasts  on  the 
occasion  were :  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  by  Dr.  Samuel 
Davidson ;  the  Queen  of  England,  by  Gesenius ;  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  by  Pernice,  a  Jurist  pro- 
fessor; and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  by  Leo. 

Besides  his  own  more  immediate  studies,  he  acquainted 
himself  with  the  methods  of  education  in  vogue  about 
him,  and  heard  celebrated  lecturers  in  different  depart- 
ments at  Halle  and  Leipzig.  Among  these,  in  one  day 
at  Leipzig,  were  Hermann,  in  Latin,  on  the  Persse  of 
x'Eschylus ;  Tuch,  Westermann,  Krehl,  and  a  member  of 
the  Medical  Faculty.  He  had  gone  thither  for  relaxation 
and  to  see  the  spirit  of  the  place.  It  is  affecting  to  read 
the  entry  in  his  journal,  sad  presage,  but  too  true : — 
"  Was  during  the  whole  day  almost  sick  enough  to  relin- 
quish all  business.  I  must  learn  to  combat  such  feelings, 
for  I  have  before  me  the  prospect  of  having  to  contend 
much  of  my  life  against  such  adverse  influences." 

Other  names  on  the  list  are  Wachsmuth,  Winer,  Miiller, 
Ulrici,  Erdmann,  Heinrichs,  Pott.  While  he  thus  breathed 
the  atmosphere  of  the  land  of  scholars,  he  was  not 
unduly  affected  by  the  volatile  elements  of  ephemeral 
criticism  floating  in  it.     He  preserved  his  independence 


GERMAN    METHOD    OF    INSTRUCTION.  43 

and  sobriety  of  judgment,  as  is  attested  by  the  following 
words : — 

"I  must  more  and  more  distrust  the  critical  judgments 
which  so  many  of  the  German  scholars  pronounce  so 
confidently,  respecting  the  usage  of  language  in  the 
Bible.  I  have  heard  some  of  them  attempt  the  English; 
and  if  there,  where  the  forms  of  thought  and  expression 
come  so  much  nearer  to  those  of  their  own  tongue,  they 
succeed  so  poorly,  how  much  more  danger  must  there  be 
of  this,  in  respect  to  languages  which  have  so  long  ceased 
to  be  living  ones,  and  where  the  whole  structure  is  so 
foreign  to  our  occidental  modes  Ox"  conception  and 
speech." 

The  thorough,  rigorous,  early  drill  in  the  schools, 
which,  in  any  land  but  Germany,  might  seem  likely  to 
hang  clogs  upon  the  spirit  of  wild  speculation,  instead  of 
furnishing  it  wings  to  fly  away  with,  interested  him.  He 
thus  describes  an  exercise  of  a  class  in  Hebrew,  at  the 
Orphan   House  in   Halle  : — 

"A  translation  out  of  Greek  into  Hebrew,  Luke  vii, 
11— 17.  First,  a  student  translated  the  Greek  into  Ger- 
man. Then  another  took  a  verse  and  gave  the  Hebrew, 
word  for  word,  or  phrase  for  phrase,  the  teacher  mean- 
while objecting  or  correcting,  with  explanations,  as  the 
case  might  require.  Then  the  teacher  called  on  another 
to  dictate  the  whole  verse,  while  he  (the  teacher)  wrote 
it  on  the  blackboard,  without  points.  Then  another 
was  required  to  name  the  points  with  which  the  words 
should  -  be  written,  which  the  teacher  meanwhile,  as 
they  were  mentioned,  inserted,  asking  at  the  same  time 
why  it  was  so,  and  not  otherwise,  and   if  mistakes  were 


44  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

made,  stating  the  fact,  and  requiring  the  correction.  This 
verse  being  disposed  of,  another  was  taken  up  in  the 
same  manner.  During  the  hour  they  went  over  verses 
ii   to   15  inclusive." 

On  one  occasion  he  notes  hearing  two  students  exam- 
ine each  other  in  the  history  of  Paul,  as  related  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  out  of  it,  and  was  astonished  at  the 
accuracy  of  the  knowledge  which  the  examination  elic- 
ited. On  the  other  hand,  he  was  told  that  the  students, 
after  coming  to  the  University,  particularly  those  of  law 
and  medicine,  but  also  those  of  theology,  usually  go  back 
in  knowledge  of  languages,  specially  of  Greek. 

Near  the  end  of  March,  he  made  a  short  visit  to 
Dresden,  and  then  returning  to  Halle,  took  leave  of  his 
friends  there. 

Concerning  the  journey  from  America  to  Europe,  and 
the  residence  in  Halle,  which  has  been  sketched,  Profes- 
sor John  L.  Lincoln,  LL.  D.,  of  Brown  University,  re- 
sponds to  an  inquiry  : — 

"I  sailed  from  Boston,  September,  1841,  in  company 
with  the  late  Dr.  Hackett,  with  the  intention  on  the  part 
of  both  of  us  to  spend  some  time  in  Germany  as  stu- 
dents. I  had  known  him  in  college,  in  my  Senior  year, 
1835-6,  though  I  was  not  under  his  instruction.  He  left 
Brown  for  Newton  in  1839,  an<^  m  that  year  I  left 
Newton,  where  I  had  been  a  student,  and  came  to  Brown 
as  a  Tutor.  During  those  two  years,  1839-41,  I  often 
had  occasion  to  see  him,  sometimes  at  Newton,  and 
sometimes  at  Providence,  so  that  we  were  ready,  in  the 
fall  of  1 84 1,  to  complete  a  plan  we  had  been  forming  to 
study  in  Germany.     We  went  to    Liverpool,  thence  to 


PROFESSOR    JOHN    L.   LINCOLN  S    RECOLLECTIONS.        45 

London,  where  we  made  a  short  stay,  and  then  to  Ham- 
burg, where  we  had  our  first  experience  with  the  practical 
study  of  German.  I  shall  never  forget  the  three  or  four 
days  and  nights  which  we  there  devoted  to  the  task  of 
studying  German,  and  of  using  it,  so  far  as  we  could,  in 
intercourse  with  the  people.  Then  we  made  our  way  to 
Leipsic  by  diligence,  for  there  was  then  no  railroad, 
except  for  part  of  the  way. 

"In  that  diligence,  on  the  first  night  —  a  cold  and 
raw  one — I  remember  well  Hackett's  first  encountering 
German  smokers  on  their  own  soil.  He  could  not 
endure  tobacco  in  any  shape  —  at  least  at  that  time. 
The  vehicle  carried  only  four,  and  two  German  gentle- 
men were  our  compagnons  de  voyage.  No  sooner  were 
they  comfortably  seated  than  out  came  their  pipes  and 
tobacco  pouches,  and  they  got  all  ready  to  smoke 
and  were  just  lighting  up,  when  one  of  them,  for 
mere  form's  sake,  turned  to  us  and  said,  '  Nicht  unan- 
genehm?'  Poor  Hackett  hadn't  yet  much  colloquial 
German,  but  he  worried  out,  'Ja,  macht  kretnk!  You 
may  imagine  the  strange  look,  the  look  even  of  disgust, 
of  our  Teutonic  friends  at  this  reply — but  they  were 
polite  enough  to  forego  their  '  occupation,'  and  so 
Hackett  escaped  his  Krankheit. 

"  We  staid  several  weeks  at  Leipsic,  at  a  hotel,  still 
very  busy  with  the  German,  and  as  I  was  the  younger 
of  the  two,  and  as  my  companion  was  rather  reserved, 
and  didn't  like  to  air  his  German  till  he  was  sure  it  was 
of  good  quality,  I  had  to  make  most  of  the  advances 
when  we  went  about  among  the  people.  Finally  when 
the  time  for  the  opening  of  the  winter  semester  came, 


46  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

we  went  to  Halle  and  established  ourselves  there  as  stu- 
dents of  the  University.  We  were  constantly  together 
there  in  our  rooms  and  at  the  lectures,  and  in  society, 
especially  at  Professor  Tholuck's,  during  the  winter,  and 
indeed  until  the  end  of  April,  I  think,  when  Dr.  Hackett 
went  to  Berlin  for  the  summer,  leaving  me  in  Halle,  as 
I  did  not  mean  to  go  to  Berlin  till  the  fall. 

"  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Hackett  never  spent 
six  months  of  more  intense  intellectual  activity  than 
during  that  fall  in  Halle.  I  know  that  we  often  said 
to  each  other,  at  the  close  of  a  hard  dav's  work,  that 
we  were  never  so  conscious  of  daily  progress  in  study, 
under  the  perpetual  pressure  of  the  noblest  incentives,  as 
in  those  first  months  of  study  in  Germany.  It  was  far 
less  common  then  than  now  for  Americans  to  study  in 
Germany,  and  we  felt  in  their  full  force  intellectual  influ- 
ences which  are  now  more  widely  diffused." 

"  Excuse  me  for  this  rambling  letter.  Your  question 
brought  up  so  freshly  that  voyage  to  Liverpool,  and  the 
events  of  the  succeeding  weeks  and  months,  that  I 
couldn't  refrain  from  setting  down  a  few  words  about  our 
lamented  friend.  He  was  a  good  man  and  a  true  scholar. 
His  simplicity  in  those  earlier  days — simplicity  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word — I  shall  always  remember.  He 
was  as  simple  as  a  child  in  his  inquiries  for  truth,  in  his 
eagerness  for  knowledge,  and  in  his  dutiful  devotion  to 
its  acquisition  and  fullest  appropriation." 

From  Halle  Prof.  Hackett  proceeded  to  Berlin,  where 
he  arrived  on  April  4th.  A  few  days  after,  he  called  on 
Dr.  Maerke,  who  was  rejoicing  with  great  enthusiasm 
over  the  discovery  of  a  God — who  had  escaped  Creuzer, 


FROM    BERLIN    TO    COPENHAGEN.  47 

and  all  the  other  explorers  of  ancient  mythology.  His 
residence  in  Berlin  lasted  about  four  months.  As  the 
lectures  did  not  begin  until  April  1 8th,  he  had  opportunity 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  vast  city.  Among  its 
prominent  monuments,  that  to  the  great  Frederick,  in 
its  principal  and  celebrated  avenue,  was  now  in  course 
of  erection.  In  his  German  studies  at  this  time  he 
read  Goethe  and  Lessing.  He  resorted  particularly 
to  the  classes  of  Neander  and  Hengstenberg.  He  also 
took  occasion  to  hear  Uhlemann,Twesten,  Vatke,  Ranke, 
and  others.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Lehmann,  the  Baptist  pastor  in  Berlin,  worshipping  with 
his  church,  which  had  been  recently  molested,  it  having 
been  the  centre,  during  this  year,  of  great  religious  interest. 
Persecution  of  the  Baptists,  as  has  been  intimated, 
was  also  active  in  Denmark,  and  Professor  Hackett,  and 
Professor  Conant,  then  of  the  Hamilton  Literary  and 
Theological  Institution,  residing  temporarily  in  Europe, 
proceeded  to  Copenhagen,  in  August,  1842,  as  an  Amer- 
ican deputation  in  their  behalf  (an  English  delega- 
tion having  already  visited  the  country  for  the  same 
purpose).  Professor  Hackett  was  appointed  to  this 
service  by  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Baptist  General 
Convention  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  Professor  Conant 
by  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  in  the 
United  States  of  America.  The  Memorial  volume  of 
the  Missionary  Union  records  that  they  met  and 
consulted  with  several  government  officers  and  persons 
of  influence,  and  valuable  concessions  were  obtained. 
On  returning  home,  Professor  Hackett  made  an  oral 
report  of  his  mission,  which    he    was  requested  to  write 


48  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

out,  after  having  received  a  vote  of  thanks  for  the  very- 
able  and  satisfactory  manner  in  which  he  had  fulfilled  his 
appointment.  This  most  interesting  paper  may  be  found 
in  the  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine,  of  November,  1842. 
It  relates  at  length  the  objects  of  the  mission,  the 
arrival  at  Copenhagen,  and  the  events  which  had 
previously  occurred  there,  the  situation  and  number 
of  the  brethren,  interviews  with  them  and  with 
officers  of  the  government,  and  others,  testimony  to  the 
character  of  the  brethren,  and  other  relevant  matter. 
The  following  passage  is  of  special  personal  interest  : — 

"We  were  not  allowed  to  prosecute  the  objects  of  our 
mission  wholly  without  molestation.  As  illustrating  the 
laws  of  Denmark  in  regard  to  our  denomination,  it  may 
be  mentioned,  that  at  the  close  of  our  first  day's  proceed- 
ings, we  received  a  summons  from  the  police,  saying  that 
we  must  present  ourselves  at  the  travellers'  office  the 
next  day  at  1 1  o'clock.  We  had  reason  to  suppose  that 
our  labors  were  now  at  an  end ;  that  we  should  be  taken 
possibly  for  a  while  into  custody,  or  at  all  events  required 
at  once  to  quit  the  country.  Our  only  hope  now  was  to 
postpone  this  result  for  one  day  more,  and  thus  gain 
time  for  a  journey  to  Roeskilde,  some  fifteen  miles 
distant  from  Copenhagen,  where  the  Estates  was  then 
in  session.  Without  this,  our  main  object  would  have 
been  lost.  On  our  return  from  this  journey,  which  we 
took  on  the  day  following,  we  found  that  the  summons 
in  question  had  been  renewed,  and  the  next  morning 
we  presented  ourselves  accordingly  at  the  bar  of  the 
travellers'  office.  '  Information  has  been  brought  here,' 
we  were  told,  '  that  you  belong  to  the  sect  of  the  Baptists. 


MISSION    OF    PROFESSORS    HACKETT    AND    CONANT.       49 

Is  it  true?'  We,  of  course,  pleaded  guilty  to  the  charge. 
'  You  are  aware,'  continued  the  officer,  '  that  in  Denmark 
this  is  a  prohibited  sect'  We  answered  that  we  knew  it. 
'And  also,'  showing  us  at  the  same  time  the  law,  '  that  no 
person  is  allowed  to  come  here  to  do  anything  for  its 
promotion.'  On  the  latter  point  we  were  in  some  danger 
of  being  a  little  embarrassed ;  but  on  desiring  that  the 
law  might  be  somewhat  more  exactly  explained,  we  were 
told  that  it  meant,  at  least  in  our  case,  that  no  one 
should  come  there  to  preach,  and  make  proselytes  or 
baptize.  Being  able  to  say,  that  we  had  not  done  this, 
or  come  thither  with  that  design,  we  were  acquitted  and 
permitted  to  take  our  leave." 

In  incidental  reminiscences  of  this  episode,  which  Dr. 
Conant  published  in  1875,  ne  says  °f  tne  g°°d  Bishop 
of  Zealand,  who  afforded  a  marked  contrast  with  his 
subordinate,  the  Dean  of  Copenhagen :  "  Though  he 
claimed  that  the  King  must  be  faithful  to  the  Church, 
the  Church  being  the  foundation  of  his  Throne,  he  was 
deeply  moved  by  Dr.  Hackett's  earnest  and  pathetic 
appeal  for  those  sincere  believers  in  God's  word,  who 
asked  only  liberty  to  serve  Him  as  they  were  led  by  His 
word  and  Spirit.  The  good  old  man,  at  parting,  proffered 
both  his  hands,  with  tears  and  his  blessing." 

August  15th  they  left  Copenhagen  for  Stralsund, 
twenty  dear  friends  bringing  them  on  their  way.  On  the 
17th,  they  reached  Berlin.  The  next  day  Professor 
Hackett  took  leave  of  Neander.  On  the  19th  he  bade 
adieu  to  the  city,  and  taking  Leipzig,  Naumburg,  and 
Frankfort-on-the-Maine  in  his  way,  on  the  24th  went  up 
the  Rhine  to  Cologne.     He  took  passage  from  Ostend, 


50  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

and  proceeding  to  London  and  Liverpool,  embarked  for 
home  in  the  Great  Western,  a  year  and  two  days  after 
leaving  Boston.  He  landed  in  New  York,  and  reached 
Boston  and  Newton  September  20th. 


CHAPTER     V . 
1 843-1851. 

LITERARY    LABORS  ! ANNOTATED    WORK    OF    PLUTARCH  ; 

TRANSLATION    OF    WINER'S    CHALDEE    GRAMMAR  | 

HEBREW  EXERCISES. TEMPORARY  SERVICE  IN 

ANDOVER    SEMINARY. LIBERALITY    OF 

CHARACTER. FIRST    EDITION    OF 

COMMENTARY    ON    ACTS. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  Seminary  year  in  October, 
Professor  Hackett  resumed  his  duties  of  instruction.  As 
auxiliary  to  their  highest  usefulness,  in  order  to  advance 
the  study  of  the  classical  Greek  authors,  as  a  sort  of  par- 
allel course  with  that  of  the  Greek  Testament,  he  soon 
set  himself  to  prepare  an  annotated  edition  of  Plutarch's 
treatise  on  the  Delay  of  the  Deity  in  the  Punishment  of 
the  Wicked.  This  weighty,  acute  and  elegant  tractate 
was  a  life-long  favorite  with  him.  Its  high  tone  of  philo- 
sophic thought  was  congenial  with  the  dignity  of  his  own 
mind,  and  its  argument  was  especially  satisfactory  to  his 
reason,  as  anticipating  the  best  efforts  of  Christian  writers, 
when  discussing  the  same  subject  within  the  same  limits 
of  natural  religion.  On  the  value  of  his  labor  in  this 
volume,  the  verdict  of  a  competent  judge  will  be  here- 
after cited.     The  preface  is  dated  December  27th,  1843. 


PROFESSOR    PARKS    RECOLLECTIONS.  5  I 

This  was  his  thirty-fifth  birthday.  It  may  be  lawful,  for 
once,  to  invade  the  sanctity  of  the  supplications  habitually 
recorded  on  this  anniversary,  for  a  period  of  more  than 
fifty  years,  so  far  as  to  note  this  petition :  "  Especially  be 
pleased  to  put  thy  blessing  on  labor  which  has  so  long 
occupied  me,  and  which  I  have  been  permitted  to  bring 
so  near  to  a  conclusion.  May  it  increase  my  means  of 
usefulness  and  of  doing  good.  Help  me  ever  to  conse- 
crate to  thee  the  fruit  of  all  my  studies." 

In  a  prospective  course  of  private  studies,  to  occupy  in 
succession  a  period  of  several  months,  he  enumerates  in 
the  middle  of  the  year  1 844,  French,  Chaldee  and  Syriac, 
Modern  Greek,  and  Sanscrit.  November  3d  of  this  year, 
he  preached  at  Old  Cambridge,  as  he  records,  "with 
increasing  conviction  that  I  must  work  out  my  destina- 
tion as  a  student.     I  acquiesce." 

"After  he  became  a  Professor  at  Newton,"  writes  Dr. 
Park,  "  I  read  to  him,  for  his  criticism,  two  or  three  essays 
which  I  was  intending  to  publish.  His  criticisms  were  so 
respectful,  and  were  expressed  with  so  unfeigned  a  depre- 
ciation of  himself,  that  I  never  dared  to  read  any  more 
essays  to  him.  His  proposal  of  emendations  appeared  to 
give  him  more  pain  than  his  decided  censures  would  have 
given  me.  I  shrank  from  subjecting  him  to  such  pain. 
Still,  in  these  very  interviews,  made  so  embarrassing  by 
his  diffidence  of  himself,  he  would  become  interested  in 
the  defence  of  some  principle,  and  would  refute  the 
objections  of  the  most  eminent  men  who  had  written 
against  that  principle,  and  would  denounce  the  reasonings 
of  those  men,  as  if  he  were  inveighing  against  the 
blunders    of  some    careless    pupils.     I    have    often    been 


52  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

amazed  at  his  reverence  for  personalities,  when  he  was 
thinking  of  persons ;  and  at  his  utter  disregard  for  per- 
sonalities, when  he  was  thinking  of  principles. 

About  a  year  and  a  half  after  his  first  volume,  Professor 
Hackett  gave  to  the  theological  public  his  translation  of 
Winer's  Grammar  of  the  Chaldee  Language,  as  contained 
in  the  Bible  and  the  Targums.  Four  appendices,  by  the 
translator,  contained  appropriate  information,  explanatory 
and  bibliographical.  This  work,  too,  was  connected  with 
his  daily  instructions,  the  more  immediate  object  of  its 
publication,  as  the  preface,  dated  June  21st,  1845,  says, 
being  "the  accommodation  of  some  of  my  own  pupils, 
who  had  expressed  a  desire  to  attend  to  the  study  of  the 
Chaldee."  In  it  he  refers  gracefully  to  Professor  Stuart, 
quoting  his  remarks  as  those  of  "a  distinguished  biblical 
scholar,  to  whom  the  writer  acknowledges  himself 
indebted,  in  common  with  so  many  others  in  our  country, 
for  his  first  instruction  and  impulse  in  sacred  studies."  In 
this  year,  1845,  Professor  Hackett  received  the  degree  of 
D.  D.  from  the  University  of  Vermont. 

The  influence  of  the  German  sojourn,  as  well  as  of  his 
early  inspiring  instructors,  is  seen  in  his  literary  perform- 
ances and  projects  at  this  time.  In  January,  1845,  the 
first  number  of  the  second  volume  of  the  Bibliotheca 
Sacra  contained  his  critique  on  the  Life  of  Jesus  by 
Strauss.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year,  he  enumerates  as 
works  he  would  like  to  write :  "  1.  Chaldee  Reader. 
2.  Syriac  Grammar  and  Chrestomathy.  3.  Introduction 
to  Old  and  New  Testaments.  4.  Theological  Dictionary. 
5.  Critical  Studies  in  the  Gospels.  6.  Analecta  on  the 
Psalms.     7.  Hebrew  Guide  for  writing.     8.  Commentary 


PUBLICATION    OF    HEBREW    EXERCISES.  53 

on  New  Testament ! ! !  "  He  was  aghast  at  his  own  list, 
but  follows  it  with  the  resolution  to  exert  himself,  and 
prayer  that  he  may  be  enabled  to  bring  something  to 
pass.  Though  few  of  the  works,  as  above  entitled,  ever 
appeared  from  his  pen,  yet  many  of  his  studies  in  those 
directions  have  found  expression  in  his  great  work  of 
editorship,  many  years  after,  on  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible,  and  in  periodical  literature.  Very  soon  after,  in 
January,  1 846,  appeared  his  able  article  in  the  Bibliotheca 
Sacra,  "  Synoptical  Study  of  the  Gospels,  and  recent 
Literature  pertaining  to  it."  In  less  than  three  weeks 
from  the  time  of  jotting  down  the  above  list,  he  began, 
not  an  easy  task,  to  sketch  out  a  plan  for  one  of  the 
works  it  contains,  a  Hebrew  Guide.  The  preface  is  dated 
some  sixteen  months  after,  April  7th,  1847.  The  full  title 
is :  "Exercises  in  Hebrew  Grammar,  and  Selections  from 
the  Greek  Scriptures  to  be  translated  into  Hebrew,  with 
Notes,  Hebrew  Phrases,  and  References  to  approved 
works  in  Greek  and  Hebrew  Philology."  As  a  motto, 
are  appended  the  words  of  Melanchthon,  "Scriptura  non 
potest  intelligi  thcologice,  nisi  a?ite  intellccta  sit  gram- 
matice"  The  author  justly  says  :  "  The  number  of  pages 
which  it  contains  is  not  large,  but  it  is  large  enough  to 
give  employment  to  any  amount  of  linguistic  attainment 
or  critical  skill,  which  the  most  mature  scholar  might  be 
able  to  bring  to  such  a  work."  His  original  intention  had 
been  to  translate  and  adapt  some  German  publication  of 
the  same  general  character ;  but,  on  examination,  he  was 
unable  to  find  one  which  possessed  all  the  requisites  for 
the  object  in  view,  and  was  obliged  to  assume  the  harder 
task  of  making  essentially  a  new  book.      The  contents 


54  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

were  divided  into  three  parts :  Exercises  in  the  punctu- 
ation of  Hebrew  words;  Exercises  in  translation  from 
Greek  into  Hebrew;  and  Exercises  in  the  punctuation  of 
unpointed  Hebrew  text.  One  of  the  latter  was  on  the 
account  of  the  Widow's  Son  restored  to  life,  Luke  vn, 
1 1  — i  7,  done  into  Hebrew.  It  was  the  passage  which  he 
had  heard  translated  from  the  Greek  into  German,  and 
then  into  Hebrew,  at  the  Orphan  School  in  Halle,  in 
1842,  an  account  of  which  has  already  been  given,  and 
which  he  prefaced  in  his  diary,  "The  exercise  was  one 
which  I  ought  never  to  forget."  He  remembered  it  to 
good  purpose,  if,  as  seems  not  unlikely,  it  had  its  agency 
in  occasioning  the  work  under  consideration.  The  ap- 
pendix, of  a  few  pages,  gave  the  views  of  Gesenius  and 
Winer  on  the  Method  of  Hebrew  Study.  The  volume 
has  now  been  for  many  years  out  of  print.  For  more  than 
eight  years  before  his  death,  Dr.  Hackett  himself  had 
been  without  a  copy,  having  lost  his  last  one  at  Newton. 
Traces  of  his  studies  while  preparing  it  are  accessible  in 
two  articles  in  the  January  number  of  the  Bibliotheca 
Sacra  for  1847,  "The  Structure  of  the  Hebrew  Sentence," 
and  "  The  Greek  Version  of  the  Pentateuch,  by  Thiersch." 
A  year  later,  the  same  periodical  contained,  from  his  pen, 
an  Analysis  of  the  Argument  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians.  From  the  outset  of  his  career  as  a  theological 
teacher,  he  had  been  studying  and  teaching  this  epistle, 
and  it  continued  to  the  end  to  be  one  of  the  great  studies 
of  his  life,  so  central  and  vital  is  its  membership  in  the 
organism  of  Scripture,  so  pregnant  is  it  with  historical 
and  doctrinal  statement  and  implication. 

Early  in  March,  1848,  he  visited  Andover  by  invitation, 


PERSONAL    TRAITS.  55 

and  rather  reluctantly  decided  to  render  temporary  ser- 
vice in  the  Greek  studies  in  the  Seminary  there.  The 
en^a^ement  was  for  some  five  weeks,  and  embraced 
twenty-two  exercises.  The  attendant  excitement  and  the 
travel  back  and  forth  made  the  labor,  though  pleasant, 
a  somewhat  exhausting  one. 

About  this  time  he  records  feeling  the  need  of  enlarged 
inquiries  on  different  classes  of  subjects,  to  counteract 
specialism.  The  wisdom  of  such  a  perception  is  not  to 
be  questioned.  But  it  may  be  affirmed  that  one  marked 
feature  of  the  impression  which  he  made  on  all  who 
came  to  know  him,  was,  that  he  had  a  broad  interest  in 
the  great  characters  and  events  of  history,  and  of  the 
time  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  never  in  danger  of 
losing  his  human  sympathies,  or  of  sinking  the  man  in 
the  scholar.  There  was  a  severity  in  the  lineaments  of 
his  face,  that  was  the  appropriate  stamp  of  a  fine  spirit, 
subjected  to  the  processes  of  disciplined  thought  and 
ennobling  emotions,  but  you  could  not  tell  as  you  gazed 
upon  the  face,  or  marked  the  erect  figure  when  he 
walked,  whether  the  evident  gentleman  and  scholar  were 
physician,  lawyer,  statesman,  or  divine.  In  his  own  loved 
employment,  his  professional  interest  in  the  scholastic 
spoils  of  interpretation  was  subordinate  to  his  interest,  as 
a  man,  in  the  plain  meaning  of  the  Scriptures,  by  which 
his  race  was  to  be  judged,  and  might  be  saved. 

This  view  of  his  character  is  illustrated  by  a  leaf  from 
his  journal,  under  date  of  Sabbath,  March  5,  1848,  which 
begins  with  recording  the  texts  of  the  day's  discourses.  It 
should  here  be  said,  that  his  pastor  for  twelve  years,  and  his 
neighbor  almost  from  the  first  of  his  residence  at  Newton, 


56  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

as  well  as  his  contemporary  at  Andover  Seminary,  was 
that  accomplished  scholar,  poet,  and  divine,  the  Rev.  S.  F. 
Smith,  D.  D.  The  journal  continues :  "At  my  request 
the  hymn  by  J.  Q.  Adams,  on  the  shortness  of  time, 
was  read  at  the  opening  of  the  afternoon  service.  His 
death  took  place  February  23d,  twenty  minutes  past 
seven,  P.  M.,  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  — at.  81.  I 
should  like  to  see  a  discriminating  sermon  on  the  differ- 
ence between  a  philosopher,  in  the  world's  acceptance  of 
this  term,  and  a  Christian.  I  must  read  the  writings  of 
the  ancients,  as  Seneca,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  the  like, 
and  endeavor  to  form  for  myself  a  more  precise  idea  of 
the  character  of  these  men.  I  have  reperused  to-day 
some  of  the  pages  of  Hess's  Life  of  Christ,  which  relate 
to  the  last  scenes  of  his  history.  L.  F.  O.  Baumgarten- 
Crusius  has  treated  this  subject  in  his  Commentary  with  a 
fulness  which  will  furnish  me  great  assistance  when  I  have 
occasion  to  enter  on  the  critical  study  of  this  part  of  the 
gospels.  I  think  I  can  say  with  truth,  that  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  Scriptures  appears  to  me  a  work  of  more 
importance  than  any  other  which  can  engage  the  attention 
of  the  human  mind,  and  that  on  this  account,  and  not 
merely  on  account  of  the  intellectual  and  literary  interest 
which  I  find  in  such  pursuits,  it  is  taking  stronger  and 
stronger  hold  of  my  feelings.  I  do  feel  that  all  the  certain 
light  which  shines  upon  that  spirit-world  which  lies 
beyond  this,  comes  to  us  through  the  medium  of  the 
inspired  volume." 

Four  years  and  a  half  elapsed  between  the  publication 
of  the  "Hebrew  Exercises"  and  the  appearance  of  the 
first  edition  of  the  Commentary  on  the  Original  Text  of 


COMMENTARY    ON    ACTS.  57 

the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Indications  of  the  progress 
of  the  work  during  this  time  are  to  be  traced  in  the 
publication  of  a  few  select  portions  in  the  Bibliotheca 
Sacra.  It  was  interrupted  by  the  author's  severe  illness 
in  1849,  which  commenced  on  the  sixth  of  April,  and 
had  "well-nigh  terminated  his  life,"  confining  him  to  the 
house  between  three  and  four  months.  From  this  time 
he  was  more  and  more  obliged  to  consign  himself  to 
seclusion,  and  avoid  cerebral  excitement.  Thus  he  came 
to  give  up  preaching,  which  in  earlier  years  he  had  liked 
and  practiced.  In  two  months  after  convalescence,  he 
suffered  a  piercing  sorrow  in  the  loss  of  his  little  son, 
William  Richard,  who  died  September  19th,  1849,  his 
third  child,  and  one  of  remarkable  promise. 

The  Commentary  appeared  in  1852.  The  words  of 
dedication  are  as  follows: — 

"  The  author  is  permitted  to  inscribe  this  volume  to 
Augustus  Tholuck,  D.  D.,  whose  writings  in  illustration 
of  the  Sacred  Word,  and  whose  personal  instructions, 
have  caused  his  influence  to  be  felt  and  his  name  to  be 
honored  in  foreign  countries  as  well  as  his  own." 

The  work,  a  second  edition  of  which  was  issued  in 
1858,  is  now  out  of  print,  the  stereotype  plates  having 
been  destroyed  in  the  great  Boston  fire  of  1872.  Partly 
for  this  reason,  but  more  because  it  sets  forth  Professor 
Hackett's  views  of  his  work  of  interpretation,  and  his 
aim  and  enjoyment  as  an  instructor,  the  greater  part  of 
the  preface  to  the  first  edition,  dated  Newton  Theological 
Institution,  October  31st,  185 1,  is  here  reproduced: — 

"Those  portions  of  the  Acts,  constituting  the  greater 
part  of  the  whole,  which  relate  to  the  great  apostle,  must 


58  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

be  thoroughly  mastered  before  any  proper  foundation  is 
laid  for  the  exegetical  study  of  the  Epistles.  It  is  the 
object  of  these  Notes  to  assist  the  reader  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  this  knowledge  and  discipline ;  to  enable  him  to 
form  his  own  independent  view  of  the  meaning  of  the 
sacred  writer  in  this  particular  portion  of  the  New 
Testament,  and,  at  the  same  time,  furnish  himself  to  some 
extent  with  those  principles  and  materials  of  criticism 
which  are  common  to  all  parts  of  the  Bible.  If  the  plan 
of  the  work  and  the  mode  in  which  it  is  executed  are 
such  as  to  impart  a  just  idea  of  the  process  of  Biblical 
interpretation,  and  to  promote  a  habit  of  careful  study 
and  of  self-reliance  on  the  part  of  those  who  use  the 
book,  it  will  be  a  result  much  more  important  than  that 
all  the  opinions  advanced  in  it  should  be  approved. 
It  is  a  result  beyond  any  other  which  the  writer  has  been 
anxious  to  accomplish.  The  grammatical  references  and 
explanations  will  enable  the  student  to  judge  of  the 
consistency  of  the  interpretations  given  with  the  laws  of 
the  Greek  language.  The  authorities  cited  will  show  the 
state  of  critical  opinion  on  all  passages  that  are  supposed 
to  be  uncertain  or  obscure.  The  geographical,  archaeo- 
logical, and  other  information  collected  from  many 
different  sources,  will  unfold  the  relations  of  the  book  to 
the  contemporary  history  of  the  age  in  which  it  was 
written,  and  serve  to  present  to  the  mind  a  more  vivid 
conception  of  the  reality  of  the  scenes  and  the  events 
which  the  narrative  describes. 

"No  single  commentary  can  be  expected  to  answer  all 
the  purposes  for  which  a  commentary  is  needed.  The 
writer  has  aimed  at  a  predominant  object ;   and  that  has 


PREFACE    TO    COMMENTARY.  59 

been,  to  determine  by  the  rules  of  a  just  philology  the 
meaning  of  the  sacred  writer,  and  not  to  develop  the 
practical  applications,  or,  to  any  great  extent,  the  doctrinal 
implications  of  this  meaning. 

"The  author  can  recall  no  happier  hours  than  those 
which  he  has  spent  in  giving  instruction  on  this  book 
of  the  New  Testament  to  successive  classes  of  theological 
students.  May  the  fruits  of  this  mutual  study  be  useful 
to  them  in  the  active  labors  of  the  sacred  work  to  which 
they  are  devoted.  They  are  now  sent  forth  into  a  wider 
sphere ; — and,  here  also,  may  God  be  pleased  to  own  them 
as  a  means  of  contributing  to  a  more  diligent  study  and 
a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  his  Holy  Word." 

The  work  was  well  received.  The  New  Englander, 
for  February,  1852,  contained  an  extended  notice,  in 
which  occur  the  words,  "  We  do  not  believe  that  a  Com- 
mentary in  which  the  rule  ne  quid  nimis  is  more 
observed,  while  nothing  important  is  withheld,  has  ever 
proceeded  from  the  American  press." 

Other  tributes  from  foreign,  as  well  as  native  sources, 
will  be  given  when  the  period  is  reached  at  which  this 
standard  work  received  its  final  form  from  the  author. 

In  a  paragraph  of  the  preface,  not  given  above,  the 
writer  speaks  of  the  state  of  his  health  as  obliging  him  to 
relinquish  for  a  time  the  duties  of  his  office.  This  notice 
may  introduce  the  second  foreign  tour  of  Professor 
Hackett,  upon  which  he  set  out  in  a  few  weeks  after  his 
task  was  completed,  receiving  on  the  eve  of  his  departure 
a  most  respectful  and  affectionate  letter  of  parting  saluta- 
tion from  the  Junior  Class  of  the  preceding  year. 


6o  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 


CHAPTER     VI. 
1851-1852. 

SECOND    FOREIGN    TOUR  : IN    ENGLAND,  FRANCE,    ITALY, 

EGYPT    AND     PALESTINE,    GREECE,    GERMANY, 
FRANCE,    GREAT    BRITAIN. 

Professor  Hackett  arrived  at  Liverpool,  December  8th, 
1 85 1.  The  next  day  he  went  to  see  Mr.  Howson, 
Principal  of  the  Liverpool  Collegiate  Institution,  the 
patient  collector  and  elaborator  of  the  historical  material 
in  the  great  work  on  the  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul, 
which  appeared  between  1850  and  1852,  and  with  which 
the  names  of  Conybeare,  his  predecessor  in  the  office  he 
then  held,  and  himself  are  connected.  On  the  following 
day  he  visited  Lancashire  Independent  College,  four 
miles  from  the  city  of  Manchester,  meeting  Dr.  Davidson 
once  more,  after  ten  years  since  their  residence  at  Halle. 
From  him,  as  from  Howson,  he  met  with  a  kind  recep- 
tion. Dr.  Davidson  reported  the  interest  in  Hebrew 
learning  at  the   Universities  as  low. 

After  a  few  days  in  London,  Professor  Hackett  pro- 
ceeded to  Paris,  by  way  of  Folkestone  and  Boulogne, 
arriving  on  the  1  7th  of  December.  Like  so  many  who 
have  visited  the  strange,  gay  metropolis,  he  observed  the 
repaired  traces  of  "the  recent  outbreak,"  the  latest  recur- 
rence   of    that    chronic    malady    having   taken    place    a 


FROM    PARIS    TO    ALEXANDRIA.  6 1 

fortnight  before,  on  the  occasion  of  Louis  Napoleon's 
coup  tf c tat.  He  remained  there  nearly  a  fortnight, 
spending  an  evening  at  Mr.  Goodrich's  (Peter  Parley), 
the  United  States  Consul  at  Paris,  and  visiting  numerous 
places  of  interest,  specially  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre, 
where  he  was  greatly  attracted  by  the  Assyrian  collection, 
and  its  value  for  the  illustration  of  the  Biblical  history  of 
Nineveh. 

Leaving  Paris  at  the  end  of  December,  he  journeyed 
to  Lyons,  and  thence  to  Marseilles,  where,  after  being 
obliged  to  summon  a  physician  for  a  day  or  two,  he 
embarked  for  Italy,  on  a  Neapolitan  steamer. 

He  was  in  Rome  on  the  ioth  of  January,  1852.  His 
first  errand  on  arriving  was  to  obtain  letters  from  home  ; 
then  he  paid  a  hurried  visit  to  the  Coliseum.  The  next 
day  was  Sunday,  when  he  attended  the  American  Chapel 
twice,  and  wandered  through  St.  Peter's.  He  staid  until 
the  5th  of  February,  exploring  the  treasures  of  the  city. 

At  Naples,  where  his  window  commanded  the  Bay  and 
Vesuvius,  he  spent  two  weeks,  visiting  Pompeii  and 
ascending  the  volcano.  February  24th  he  left  Naples 
for  Malta,  being  at  the  island  on  the  26th,  and  resuming 
the  voyage  the  next  day,  reaching  Alexandria  March  2d. 
On  this  day  he  records  going  on  deck  at  six  o'clock,  "  and 
Alexandria  and  the  low  coast  around  it  were  near  at 
hand.  I  was  deeply  afTected  at  the  thought  of  being  so 
near  to  the  Oriental  world.  I  could  not  refrain  (I  con- 
fess it)  from  clapping  my  hands  with  a  wild  delight." 
Soon  he  was  among  the  novel  scenes  of  Cleopatra's 
Needles,  Pompey's  Pillar,  the  Pasha's  magnificent  palace, 
and  the  dreadful  slave  market.    The  next  day  he  departed 


62  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

for  Cairo,  where  he  spent  about  ten  days,  making  excur- 
sions to  the  pyramids  and  to  Memphis. 

"  The  sun  was  hanging  low  as  I  left  Cairo,  on  the  1 5th 
of  March,  to  proceed  across  the  desert  to  Syria ;  and 
after  a  march  of  two  hours  and  a  half  we  halted  near  the 
obelisk  which  marks  the  site  of  Heliopolis,  the  On  of 
Scripture  (Genesis  41  :  45).  This  obelisk  at  On  is  all 
that  remains  of  that  famous  seat  of  the  sun  worship  in 
Egypt.  It  is  a  granite  shaft  sixty  feet  high,  inscribed 
with  hieroglyphics.  The  eyes  of  Abraham  and  Moses 
rested  upon  it.  Herodotus,  whom  we  call  'the  father  of 
history,'  looked  up  to  it,  as  the  relic  of  an  already  for- 
gotten age.     Plato  sat  and  moralized  beneath  its  shadow. 

"Never  can  I  forget  my  first  night  in  the  desert,  in 
traveling  from  Egypt  to  Palestine.  The  appearance  of 
an  eastern  sky  at  night  is  quite  peculiar,  displaying  to  the 
eye  a  very  different  aspect  from  our  sky.  Not  only  is  the 
number  of  stars  visible  greater  than  we  are  accustomed 
to  see,  but  they  shine  with  a  brilliancy  and  purity  of  lustre 
of  which  our  heavens  very  seldom  furnish  an  example. 
Homer's  comparison,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Fifth  Book 
of  the  Iliad  (Cowper's  Translation), 

" bright  and  steady  as  the  star 


Autumnal,  which  in  ocean  newly  bathed, 
Assumes  fresh  beauty " 

was  often  brought  to  mind,  as  I  remarked  the  fresh, 
unsullied  splendor,  as  it  were,  of  the  more  brilliant  con- 
stellations. 

"An  oriental  sky  has  another  peculiarity,  which  adds 
very   much  to  its  impressive   appearance.     With  us  the 


AN    EASTERN    SKY    AT    NIGHT.  63 

stars  seem  to  adhere  to  the  face  of  the  heavens;  they 
form  the  most  distant  objects  within  the  range  of  vision  ; 
they  appear  to  be  set  in  a  groundwork  of  thick  darkness, 
beyond  which  the  eye  does  not  penetrate.  Unlike  this  is 
the  canopy  which  night  spreads  over  the  traveler  in  East- 
ern climes.  The  stars  there  seem  to  hang  like  burning 
lamps,  midway  between  heaven  and  earth ;  the  pure 
atmosphere  enables  us  to  see  a  deep  expanse  of  blue 
ether  lying  far  beyond  them.  The  hemisphere  above  us 
glows  and  sparkles  with  innumerable  fires  that  appear  as 
if  kept  burning  in  their  position  by  an  immediate  act  of 
the  Omnipotent,  instead  of  resting  on  a  framework  which 
subserves  the  illusion  of  seeming  to  give  to  them  their 
support. 

"  I  had  entered  the  tent  erected  for  me,  about  dark, 
and,  being  occupied  there  for  some  time,  the  shadows  of 
evening  in  the  meanwhile  insensibly  gathered  around  us ; 
the  stars  came  forth  one  after  another,  and  commenced 
their  nightly  watch.  On  going  abroad,  at  length,  a  scene 
of  surpassing  beauty  and  grandeur  burst  upon  me.  I  was 
in  the  midst  of  a  level  tract  of  sand,  where  no  intervening 
object  rose  up  to  intercept  the  view ;  the  horizon  which 
swept  around  me  was  as  expanded  as  the  power  of  human 
vision  could  make  it ;  and  all  this  vast  circuit,  as  I 
glanced  from  the  right  hand  to  the  left,  and  from  the 
edge  of  the  sky  to  the  zenith,  was  glittering  with  count- 
less stars,  each  of  which  seemed  radiant  with  a  distinct 
light  of  its  own  ;  many  of  which  shone  with  something 
of  the  splendor  of  planets  of  the  first  magnitude.  I 
could   not  resist  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  but  taking 


64  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

my    Hebrew   Bible,  read,  with   a  new  impression  of  its 
meaning,  the  sublime  language  of  the  Psalmist : — 

'Jehovah,  our  Lord,  how  excellent  thy  name  in  all  the  earth, 
Who  hast  placed  thy  glory  upon  the  heavens  ! 
When   I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers ; 
The  moon  and  stars  which  thou  hast  made ; 
What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him, 
And  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  carest  for  him  ? ' 

"  I  remembered,  too,  that  it  was  probably  in  some  such 
situation  as  this  in  which  I  was  then  placed,  and  on  an 
evening  like  this,  that  Abraham  was  directed  to  go 
abroad,  and  '  look  towards  heaven,  and  tell  the  stars  if  he 
could  number  them,'  and  thus  form  an  idea  of  the  multi- 
tude of  the  posterity  destined  to  be  called  after  his  name 
(Genesis  1 5  :  5 ).  I  turned  to  that  passage  also,  and  saw  a 
grandeur  in  the  comparison,  of  which  I  had  possessed 
hitherto  but  a  vague  conception." 

Such  is  the  record  of  a  day,  ascertained  by  the  colloca- 
tion of  passages  from  the  "  Illustrations  of  Scripture,"  the 
reference   of  which  is   fixed   by  the  aid   of  the  Journal. 

While  at  Naples,  it  may  be  here  remarked,  he  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  a  New  England  sky,  at  night, 
presented  on  the  whole  as  fine  a  view  as  the  Italian. 

On  the  27th  the  caravan  reached  Gaza,  and  the  travel- 
ers were  put  in  quarantine.  On  the  next  day,  Sunday, 
some  of  them  read  together  parts  of  the  Bible  relating  to 
places  they  expected  to  visit.  These  days  may  have  been 
further  beguiled  by  one  pilgrim,  in  making  a  list  of  ques- 
tions on  the  archaeology  of  Ruth,  twenty-nine  in  number, 
which  are  on  a  loose  leaf  of  his  journal.  Their  answers, 
received  in  the  further  course  of  the  journey,  are  embodied 


JERUSALEM.  65 

in  an  article  on  the  Book  of  Ruth,  in  the  Dictionary  of 
the  Bible. 

On  being  released,  he  proceeded,  by  way  of  Ascalon, 
Ashdod,  Jaffa,  Lydda,  Remla,  to  Jerusalem,  of  which  he 
obtained  his  first  sight  on  April  2d.  His  first  visit  was 
to  Gethsemane,  as  its  locality  and  appearance  were  the 
last  sight  he  strove  to  imprint  upon  his  mind  when  depart- 
ing. "  It  is  the  spot  above  every  other  which  the  visitor 
must  be  anxious  to  see.  It  is  the  one  which  I  sought 
out  before  any  other.  We  may  sit  down  there  and  read 
the  affecting  narrative  of  what  the  Saviour  endured  for 
our  redemption,  and  feel  assured  that  we  are  near  the 
place  where  he  prayed,  saying,  '  Father,  not  my  will,  but 
thine  be  done;'  and  where,  '  being  in  an  agony,  he  sweat 
as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood,  falling  down  to  the 
ground.' " 

In  the  course  of  a  month's  stay,  he  made  excursions  to 
Jericho,  the  Jordan,  and  Dead  Sea,  Bethlehem,  Hebron, 
Tekoa,  and  Adullam.  On  Wednesday,  the  28th  of  April, 
1852,  he  left  Jerusalem,  passing  out  of  the  Jaffa  gate  at 
nine  A.  M.  That  very  morning,  as  his  "  Biblical  Re- 
searches" reveal,  Dr.  Edward  Robinson  entered  it  one 
hour  earlier,  on  this  his  second  visit  to  the  Holy  Land. 
One  cannot  but  regret  that  the  two  friends  should  have 
so  narrowly  missed  seeing  each  other,  in  the  most  in- 
teresting of  earth's  scenes.  But  they  have  met  in 
Jerusalem  the  Golden,  to  go  no  more  out  forever! 

A  leisurely  ride  of  three  days  and  a  half,  through  the 

heart  of  the  ancient  land  of  Israel,  allowing  an  occasional 

dctoar  to  such  places  as  Gophna,  Shiloh,  and  Samaria, 

where  he  visited  the  Synagogue ;  and  affording  an  oppor- 
6 


66  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

tunity  of  reading,  on  the  spot  of  its  utterance,  the  Saviour's 
conversation  with  the  woman  at  Jacob's  well,  and  of 
enjoying  the  charming  scenery  of  the  vale  of  Shechem  ; — 
brought  the  traveller,  on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  May 
first,  to  Nazareth,  where  he  had  desired  to  spend  the 
Sabbath.  His  first  sight  of  the  humble  village  formed, 
as  he  records,  one  of  the  great  moments  of  the  journey. 
Further  scenes  or  stages  of  his  travels,  were  Mt.  Tabor, 
the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  Safet,  Tiberias,  Magdala,  Mt.  Carmel, 
with  whose  beauty  he  was  enraptured,  Ptolemais  or  Akka, 
Tyre,  upon  whose  ruins  beneath  the  sea  he  looked  down 
through  the  calm  waters,  with  melancholy  interest,  in  the 
long  twilight  which  closed  the  tenth  of  May;  Sidon, 
Beirut,  Lebanon,  Damascus,  Baalbec.  Returning  to 
Beirut,  he  embarked  thence,  at  half-past  six  o'clock,  P.  M., 
on  May  25th.  As  it  had  given  a  special  interest  to  the 
horseback  ride  from  Carmel  to  Akka,  to  know  that  he 
was  traversing  the  ground  over  which  Paul  and  his  friends 
passed  on  his  last  journey  to  Jerusalem,  so,  now,  on  his 
voyage,  he  was  still  further  returning,  very  nearly,  on  the 
apostle's  track.  The  next  day  at  ten  o'clock,  he  arrived 
off  against  Larnica,  on  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  and  on  the 
following  night  at  two  o'clock,  A.  M.,  came  to  anchor  in 
the  harbor  of  Rhodes.  After  eight  hours  the  course  was 
resumed,  and  on  the  29th  Smyrna  was  reached.  Here  he 
received  tidings  of  the  death  of  his  dear  friend,  the 
lamented  B.  B.  Edwards,  late  Professor  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Andover.  A  peculiar  propriety  will  be  seen 
in  transcribing  from  the  "Illustrations  of  Scripture,"  page 
1 5  7,  the  tribute  there  paid  to  his  memory  : — 
"I  cannot  write  his  name  without  emotions  of  sad  but 


TRIBUTE    TO    PROFESSOR    EDWARDS.  6~ 

tender  interest.  The  journey  to  which  these  pages  relate, 
was  one  which  we  had  planned  to  execute  together;  it 
had  been  the  subject  of  many  conversations  between  us, 
and  of  long  cherished  desire  on  both  sides.  How  much 
more  useful  and  delightful  would  it  have  been  in  the 
society  of  such  a  friend!  His  failing  health  obliged  him 
to  relinquish  the  undertaking  at  the  last  moment,  though 
not  without  a  hope  that  he  should  live  to  accomplish  it 
at  a  future  time.  It  was  otherwise  appointed.  It  was  my 
privilege  to  receive  a  letter  from  him,  just  before  leaving 
the  Holy  Land,  in  which,  with  a  touching  allusion  to  his 
disappointment,  he  requested  that,  "as  I  plucked  a  leaf 
or  gathered  a  flower  here  and  there,  I  would  lay  aside  one, 
also,  for  him;"  and  in  a  week  from  that  time,  on  arriving 
at  Smyrna,  I  heard  that  he  had  been  called  away  to  his 
rest  in  Heaven.  He  died  at  Athens,  in  Georgia,  on  the 
20th  of  April,  1852.  The  impression  of  his  character,  so 
unique  in  its  combination  of  modesty  and  sterling  worth, 
and  of  his  various  intellectual  endowments  and  attain- 
ments, will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  knew  him. 
The  Memoir  of  his  life  and  labors,  so  worthily  prepared 
by  his  friend  and  colleague,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Park,  will  cause 
him  to  be  remembered  in  future  times.  He  was  so  long 
associated  with  all  my  anticipations  of  eastern  travel,  and 
was  so  constantly  present  with  me  in  thought  during  the 
journey,  that  I  have  desired,  not  for  his  sake,  but  mine,  to 
record  his  name  on  the  pages  of  this  humble  memorial  of 
our  common  enterprise." 

Professor  Hackett  tenderly  loved  his  friends.  Already, 
on  this  journey,  he  had  been  reminded  afresh  of  the  loss 
which  he,  with  a  wide  circle,  sustained  in  the  death  of  the 


68  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

Rev.  Nathan  W.  Fiske,  Professor  in  Amherst  College, 
"  a  man  justly  esteemed  for  his  eminent  talents  as  well  as 
his  virtues."  He  died  in  1847,  while  on  a  journey  in 
Palestine,  and  his  remains  lie  buried  in  a  small  cemetery 
at  Jerusalem,  not  far  from  David's  tomb. 

"  My  visit  to  his  grave  called  up  many  affecting  recol- 
lections of  the  past.  He  acquiesced  cheerfully  in  the  will 
of  God ;  but  it  was  impossible  not  to  reflect  how  many 
natural  feelings  it  would  have  gratified  could  he  have 
been  spared  to  regain  once  more  his  native  land,  and  die 
among  the  kindred  and  friends  whom  it  is  ever  a  source 
of  so  much  consolation  to  have  near  us  in  the  last  trying 
scene !  Paucioribus  lacrimis  compositus  es,  ct  novissima 
in  luce  desideravere  aliquid  oculi  tui.  A  Latin  epitaph, 
setting  forth  his  character  in  just  terms,  has  been  in- 
cribed  on  his  tomb-stone.  It  afforded  me  a  melancholy 
pleasure  to  adopt  means  for  having  two  cypresses,  partly 
grown,  transplanted  at  the  proper  season,  and  placed  one 
at  the  head  and  the  other  at  the  foot  of  the  grave  on 
Mount  Zion,  where  his  body  awaits  the  resurrection  of 
the  just." 

Leaving  Smyrna  on  June  fourth,  and  coasting  along 
the  plains  of  Troy,  on  the  sixth  he  arrived  at  Constanti- 
nople, where  he  remained  about  a  week,  and  met  Dr. 
Hamlin,  and  the  Hon.  Mr.  Marsh.  It  had  been  reserved 
for  him,  on  returning  from  the  East,  to  linger  for  a  short 
time  in  the  ancient  home  of  Attic  arts  and  learning, 
under  the  auspices  of  cordial  welcome  and  attentions 
from  the  honored  missionaries,  Rev.  Albert  N.  Arnold, 
then  residing  at  Athens,  and  Rev.  Rufus  F.  Buel,  at 
Piraeus.     Arriving   at  Athens  June    18th,  a   stay  of  ten 


GERMAN    UNIVERSITY     LECTURERS.  69 

days  included  visits,  among  other  places,  to  Marathon, 
Salamis,  Nauplia,  and  Mycena<e.  On  the  28th  he  left 
Pineus,  and  was  four  hours  in  running  from  there  to 
Calimaki.  "Here  I  took  leave  of  Mr.  Arnold,  and  how 
much  the  dear  Athenians  had  won  upon  my  heart  I  was 
not  aware  till  I  parted  with  this  last  member  of  the  circle. 
I  could  not  suppress  the  rising  tear.  The  recollection  of 
my  intercourse  with  these  friends  is  among  the  most 
delightful  reminiscences  of  the  whole  journey." 

July  4th  he  arrived  at  Trieste,  and  by  way  of  Venice, 
Verona,  Trient,  Innsbruck,  Munich,  and  Nuremberg,  came, 
on  the  1 6th,  to  Erlangen.  Here,  from  ten  to  eleven  o'clock, 
he  heard  Ebrard  maintain  the  Aramrean  original  of 
Matthew,  and  from  eleven  to  twelve,  Hofmann  lecture  in 
Jewish  history,  on  the  period  of  the  Judges.  He  found 
the  latter  affable,  and  heard  him  speak  of  Stuart,  as  well 
known.  Leaving  on  the  same  afternoon,  the  next  day 
saw  him  once  more  among  the  familiar  scenes  of  Leipzig. 

In  a  stay  of  four  or  five  days,  he  heard  Tuch,  Kahnis, 
Winer,  and  others,  and  visited  Winer,  who  was  laboring 
on  a  new  edition  of  his  Grammar.  In  his  parlor  hung 
the  picture  of  the  transfiguration  of  Christ,  by  Domeni- 
chino.  Ftirst  was  making  slow  progress  on  his  Hebrew 
Lexicon.  At  Leipzig  he  learned  of  the  death  of  Henry 
Clay.  A  week  was  spent  at  Halle,  renewing  the  pleasant 
associations  of  the  place.  LI  ere  he  met  Professor  Herzog, 
who  was  at  work  on  the  Theological  Encyclopaedia.  He 
made  calls  upon  Hupfeld  and  Rodiger;  heard  the  former, 
who  was  called  from  Marburg  to  the  chair  of  Gesenius, 
lecture  on  Psalm  68th,  and  the  latter,  upon  Isaiah  ;  also, 
Miiller,  on   Homiletics.     He  was  anxious  to  know  from 


;o  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

Hupfeld  the  prospects  of  the  Hebrew  Grammar,  the 
beginning  of  which  had  now  been  some  time  published, 
but  which  was  never  completed.  He  notes  that,  on  his 
second  call,  Hupfeld  hardly  alluded  to  his  own  studies 
during  the  evening.  The  great  Hebraist  was  much  in- 
terested in  many  subjects,  specially  church  questions.  He 
was  lecturing  on  the  History  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
intended  to  publish  upon  the  theme.  Rodiger  was  hoping 
to  have  his  part  of  Gesenius's  Thesaurus,  left  incomplete 
by  the  master's  death,  printed  in  the  following  spring. 
He  had  once  more  the  high  privilege  of  hearing  Tholuck 
preach,  who  plainly  retained  his  power  and  popularity. 

At  the  end  of  the  month,  he  again  saw  Hengstenberg, 
in  Berlin,  who  was  very  cordial,  and  whom  he  found 
lecturing  to  large  classes,  though  with  an  unattractive 
manner.  Hengstenberg  thought  it  improbable  that 
Neander's  exegetical  remains  would  be  published,  as 
the  main  results  of  his  studies  were  embodied  in  the 
Life  of  Christ,  and  the  History  of  the  Apostolic  Church. 
Nitzsch  was  the  most  renowned  professor.  Vatke,  so 
popular  ten  years  before,  was  quite  deserted.  Taking  in 
his  way  the  Universities  of  Marburg,  where,  among  other 
professors  he  called  on  Ranke,  the  brother  of  the  his- 
torian ;  and  of  Giessen,  where  were  Credner  and  Knobel, 
he  arrived,  on  the  third  of  August,  at  Heidelberg. 
Here  he  called  on  Umbreit,  who  had  been  thirty  years 
in  this  University.  He  began  his  career  at  Gottingen, 
and  remembered  the  days  when  Everett  and  Bancroft 
were  there,  in  the  time  of  Eichhorn.  The  beautiful 
scenery  of  the  place,  and  the  picturesque  charms  of  the 
finest    ruins    in    Europe    were    duly    appreciated.      Paris 


VISITS    TO    ENGLISH    AND    SCOTCH    LOCALITIES.  Jl 

was  reached  by  way  of  Strasburg,  and  after  a  few  days 
there,  during-  which  he  visited  Versailles,  the  traveller 
set  out  on  the  last  stage  of  his  extensive  wanderings, 
arriving  in  London,  by  way  of  Dover  and  Calais,  on  the 
13th  of  August. 

Here  he  again  heard  Mr.  Noel  preach,  this  time,  in  his 
changed  ecclesiastical  relations.  He  revisited  St.  Paul's, 
and  Westminster  Abbey,  and  went  to  the  new  houses  of 
Parliament,  which  had  been  opened  since  his  former 
tour.  He  visited  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and 
satisfied  the  longings  of  his  heart  by  a  trip  to  Salis- 
bury, without  finding  there  any  names  very  closely 
corresponding  to  those  in  Salisbury,  Massachusetts.  He 
saw  also  the  mystical  relics  of  Stonehenge.  He  resorted 
to  the  British  Museum,  and  remarked  the  superiority  of 
the  Assyrian  collection  to  that  in  Berlin,  or  the  Louvre- 
Other  important  relics,  secured  by  Mr.  Layard,  he  was 
informed,  were,  at  this  time,  on  the  way  from  Nineveh. 

On  the  way  to  Edinburgh,  he  visited  Oxford.  In  the 
beautiful  Scotch  city,  he  heard  Dr.  Cancllish  preach. 
Among  the  sights  which  the  city  presented,  he  was  much 
impressed  with  the  terrible  misery  of  the  populace.  He 
proceeded  to  the  Trosachs,  and  the  day  after  leaving  there, 
found  out  the  Tron  Church,  in  Glasgow,  and  attended 
a  week-day  service  in  the  chapel  connected  with  it. 

He  embarked  at  Liverpool,  in  the  Niagara,  September 
4th,  1852,  ten  years  and  a  day  from  the  time  of  his  former 
return  voyage.  A  part  of  the  ocean  passage  was  beguiled 
with  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  The  steamer  landed  at  Bos- 
ton, September  1 6th,  and  Professor  Hackett  was  soon 
immersed  in  the  avocations  of  the  opening   academical 


J2  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

year.  During  his  absence,  his  revered  friend  Professor 
Stuart  had  passed  away,  on  the  fourth  of  January,  1852. 
Professor  Stuart  looked  upon  his  former  pupil  as  one 
who  would  have  been  his  successor,  but  for  his  altered 
church  affiliations. 


CHAPTER     VII. 

1852-1858. 

EVENTS     UPON     RETURN. REQUISITES    FOR    A    SACRED 

INTERPRETER.- PUBLICATION      OF      ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE. SECOND  EDITION 

OF    COMMENTARY    ON    ACTS. 

A  week  after  his  return  to  America,  an  important  and 
gratifying  event  took  place  in  the  life  of  one  with  whom, 
as  a  student  in  the  Seminary,  and  as  an  associate  in  its 
Faculty,  Dr.  Hackett  was  connected,  for  twenty-two  of  the 
thirty-one  years  of  his  residence  in  Newton.  His  journal 
records,  under  date  of  September  24th,  1852,  "Mr.  Hovey 
was  married  this  evening.  May  a  useful  and  happy  life 
be  his  portion."  Few  lives,  it  may  be  confidently  said, 
are  more  useful  and  happy  than  his  for  whom  this  wish 
ascended,  the  present  honored  President  of  Newton 
Theological  Institution. 

Under  date  of  October  15th,  the  death  of  Rev.  John 
S.  Maginnis,  D.  D.,  Professor  in  Rochester  Theological 
Seminary,  is  entered  in  his  diary,  and,  at  the  beginning  of 
December,  the  bringing  of  the  body,  for  interment,  to 
Boston. 

Dr.    Hackett    had    been    at    home   little  more  than  a 


CHARACTER    OF    A    BIBLICAL    CRITIC. 


/O 


month,  when  the  whole  country  was  thrown  into  mourn- 
ing by  the  death  of  Daniel  Webster.  It  seems  to  have 
been  the  occasion  with  him  of  noting  down  some  remi- 
niscences, as  to  events  and  dates,  which  have  been 
employed  in  this  narrative.  In  recalling  the  address  of 
Webster  to  the  Amherst  students,  in  1830,  which  he  was 
on  the  committee  to  solicit,  he  has  been  heard  to  narrate 
that  the  great  American  was,  at  first,  rather  grum  at  being 
waked  from  an  after-dinner  nap.  He  came,  however,  at 
the  appointed  time,  was  taciturn  on  the  way  (his  guide 
said),  and  gave  the  thrilling  address  which  Professor 
Tyler  has  alluded  to  in  his  history  of  the  College,  and 
described  for  these  pages. 

Among  the  first  duties  of  his  return  were  visits  to  his 
mother,  Mrs.  John  Davidson  by  re-marriage,  at  Methuen, 
and  to  the  widow  of  his  friend,  Professor  Edwards,  at 
Andover.  Almost  his  first  literary  labor  was  the  sad  yet 
congenial  task  of  furnishing  an  estimate  of  the  departed 
Christian  scholar,  imposed  upon  him  by  their  common 
friend,  Professor  Park,  then  engaged  in  the  preparation 
of  a  memoir. 

At  Dr.  Hackett's  funeral,  Dr.  Park  spoke  of  the  appli- 
cability of  the  eulogium  thus  called  forth,  almost  word 
for  word,  to  Professor  Hackett  himself. 

It  will  be  proper,  then,  instead  of  attempting,  at  a  later 
stage,  any  labored  estimate  of  Professor  Hackett  as  a 
Biblical  scholar,  to  give,  in  this  place,  at  least  an  abridg- 
ment, which  is  all  that  the  nature  and  limits  of  this  memo- 
rial permit,  of  that  fine  conception  of  the  character,  which 
found  such  happy  double  realization,  in  the  two  friends. 

"An  able  interpreter  of  the  Scriptures  must  possess,  to 


74  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

say  nothing  of  the  moral  requisites,  two  distinct  classes  of 
qualifications  ;  they  may  be  distinguished  as  the  acquired 
and  the  natural.  Among  the  former  are  to  be  ranked 
the  philological  attainments  which  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  all  Biblical  scholarship.  Mr.  Edwards  attained  here 
an  unquestionable  eminence.  His  devotion  to  ancient 
learning  did  not  lead  him  to  neglect  the  modern  languages 
and  their  literature.  He  made  up  his  mind,  at  an  early 
day,  that  no  one  can  be  a  respectable  scholar  in  philology, 
unless  he  has  mastered  the  German  ;  and  with  this  con- 
viction he  resolved  to  study  it,  until,  as  he  once  expressed 
himself  to  me,  he  could  read  any  ordinary  German  book 
with  as  much  ease  as  he  could  read  a  book  in  English. 
This  facility  he  attained.  It  appears  that  our  friend  was 
more  or  less  acquainted  (if  we  include  the  mother  tongue 
in  which  he  so  much  excelled)  with  some  ten  or  more 
different  languages.  It  is  not  meant  that  he  was  expert 
in  all  of  them  ;  for  no  one  who  has  any  just  idea  of  this 
sort  of  scholarship  will  expect  of  a  man  impossibilities. 
It  is  not  in  general  creditable  to  a  person  to  be  known 
as  having  occupied  himself  with  a  great  variety  of  lan- 
guages ;  for  in  the  majority  of  such  cases  it  may  be 
inferred  with  much  certainty,  that  the  individual  has 
dissipated  his  powers,  and  learned  very  little  to  any  good 
purpose.  What  I  mean  to  say  is,  that  Professor  Edwards 
had  drawn  the  several  languages  referred  to  within 
the  circle  of  his  studies,  that  he  possessed  superior  skill  in 
some  of  them,  and  was  sufficiently  acquainted  with  all  of 
them  to  make  them  subservient  to  his  usefulness  in  his 
profession.  He  would  have  taken  a  high  rank  as  a  philol- 
ogist in  any  country.     How  few  among  us  have  a  better 


NATIVE    QUALIFICATIONS    OF    A    CRITIC.  /5 

claim  to  that  title  !  Whose  knowledge  has  extended 
over  a  wider  field,  and  been  at  the  same  time  equally 
accurate  ?  Who  have  treasured  up  such  ample  stores  of 
Learning,  while  they  have  performed  so  much  other  labor, 
sufficient  of  itself  to  engross  the  time  and  strength  of 
ordinary  men  ? 

"  Hut  a  Biblical  critic  needs  certain  other  qualifications, 
which  no  mere  skill  in  philology  can  bestow  ;  which 
must  be  born  in  some  sense  with  the  individual,  and 
inhere  in  his  mental  organization,  though  culture  may 
modify  and  improve  them.  Language,  considered  simply 
as  a  matter  of  grammar,  presents  to  the  interpreter  many 
unavoidable  ambiguities ;  and  to  solve  these,  to  ascertain 
the  one  definite  meaning  wThich  the  writer  intended  to 
express,  the  interpreter  must  be  able  to  penetrate  through 
the  language  to  the  mind  of  the  writer,  must  gain  his  point 
of  view,  see  and  feel  the  subject,  as  far  as  this  may  be 
possible,  as  the  writer  himself  saw  and  felt  it.  It  is  only 
by  this  faculty  of  perceiving  the  congruities  of  a  subject, 
of  reproducing  another's  train  of  thought  in  his  own  mind, 
that  the  student  of  a  foreign  language  can  settle  many 
questions  in  interpretation, — that  he  can  decide  which  of 
various  possible  ideas  must  be  the  true  idea.  The  cast 
of  mind  necessary  for  performing  this  process  I  should 
ascribe  to  Professor  Edwards  in  a  high  degree.  He  pos- 
sessed a  good  judgment,  comprehensiveness  of  mind,  tact 
for  seizing  upon  the  main  thought,  facility  in  transferring 
himself  to  the  position  of  the  writer  whose  mind  he 
would  interpret.  He  had  imagination  and  taste,  could 
sympathize  with  the  sacred  writers  as  religious  poets,  and 
was  not  the  man  to  confound  a  figure   of  speech  with  a 


j6  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

dogma  or  a  logical  proposition.  I  venture  to  affirm, 
that,  had  he  lived  to  write  a  commentary  on  the  Psalms, 
or  a  treatise  on  the  genius  of  Hebrew  poetry,  such  as  he 
was  capable  of  producing,  he  would  have  given  to  the 
world  a  performance  of  standard  value  ;  he  would  have 
brought  to  the  task  as  large  a  share  of  the  qualifications 
of  a  Lowth  or  a  Herder  as  any  man  (that  I  know  of) 
connected  with  sacred  criticism,  who  has  appeared  in  our 
country.  Yet,  with  all  this  subjective  power,  he  was  free 
from  extravagance,  loved  the  simple  in  interpretation, 
neglected  subtilties  and  conceits,  and  insisted  that  the 
word  of  God  should  be  explained  with  a  proper  regard 
to  the  analogy  of  the  Scripture  and  the  dictates  of  a 
sound  common  sense. 

"In  speaking  of  him  as  a  teacher,  I  ought  first  of  all  to 
mention  his  striving  to  be  exact  in  his  knowledge,  his 
dxpcfteia,  his  endeavor  to  teach  what  he  taught  with  critical 
precision,  and  to  train  his  pupils  to  that  method  of  study. 
Allied  to  this  quality,  or  rather  an  effect  and  manifesta- 
tion of  it,  was  his  ingenuousness,  his  clear  perception  of 
what  he  knew,  or  what  the  nature  of  the  subject  allowed 
to  be  known,  and  his  extreme  solicitude  not  to  transcend 
the  limits  of  his  knowledge  in  the  opinions  which  he  ad- 
vanced. His  crowning  excellence  as  a  theological  teacher 
was,  that  he  entertained  so  childlike  a  confidence  in  the 
Scriptures  as  the  word  of  God,  and  could  unfold  their 
meaning  with  the  moral  power  which  can  spring  only 
from  that  conviction.  It  was  this  view  of  the  Sacred 
Oracles,  their  character  as  the  only  authoritative  source  of 
our  knowledge  on  religious  subjects,  that  rendered  him 
so  anxious  to  ascertain  the  exact  sense  of  what  the  Bible 


[ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    SCRIPTURE.  J}' 

teaches,  and  so  earnest  to  inspire  others  with  the  same 
feeling." 

A  diploma,  dated  Halle  and  Leipzig,  January  ist,  1853, 
certifies  the  appointment  of  Herr  H.  B.  Hackett,  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology  in  Newton  Centre  (Massachusetts,  U. 
S.  A.),  to  regular  membership  in  the  German  Oriental 
Association. 

Three  articles  in  the  Christian  Review,  as  well  as  several 
lectures,  delivered  to  friends  and  neighbors,  in  the  village 
churches  at  Newton,  upon  his  Eastern  travels,  were  so 
well  received,  that  Dr.  Hackett  was  led  to  embody  them 
in  the  volume,  already  alluded  to,  entitled:  "Illustrations 
of  Scripture;  suggested  by  a  Tour  through  the  Holy 
Land."  It  relates,  chiefly,  to  the  time  between  his 
departure  from  Cairo,  March  15th,  and  his  arrival  at 
Akka,  where  he  spent  Sunday,  May  9th,  1852, — a  little 
less  than  two  months.  The  contents,  however,  are  not 
arranged  chronologically,  but  topically,  according  to  a 
design  intimated  in  the  title  of  the  work,  and  disclosed 
in  the  preface,  which  is  dated  Newton  Centre,  August 
23d,  1855.  The  book  closes  with  these  words:  "Out  of 
the  many  places  that  might  be  spoken  of,  I  have  selected 
a  few  which  have  some  special  prominence  in  the  Bible, 
and  deserve,  therefore,  to  be  made  as  familiar  as  possible 
to  the  mind  of  every  reader.  Would  that  what  I  have 
written  might  serve,  in  some  measure,  to  furnish  that 
knowledge,  to  render  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  more 
interesting  and  profitable  to  those  who  engage  in  it ! 
How  much  would  such  a  result  augment  the  pleasure, 
already  so  great  in  so  many  ways,  connected  with  my 
recollections   of  this   delightful  journey  ! " 


yS  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

The  volume  met  with  a  very  favorable  reception,  and 
appeared  in  a  second  and  enlarged  edition.  It  is  stated 
that,  in  a  copy  of  this  work,  belonging  to  the  library  of 
Rufus  Choate,  which  was  sold  after  his  death,  there  was 
found  written  on  the  fly-leaf,  by  the  eminent  advocate, 
"  Worth  a  hundred  of  the  evidences  of  Christianity." 

Other  fruits  of  this  journey  were  incorporated  into  the 
second  edition  of  the  Commentary  on  Acts,  which 
appeared  in  1858.  "  It  has  been  of  some  service  to  me," 
he  says  in  the  preface,  dated  March  1st,  1858,  "that  since 
the  publication  of  the  first  edition  I  have  been  enabled 
to  visit  the  countries  in  which  the  Saviour  and  the 
apostles  lived,  and  the  cross  gained  its  earliest  victories. 
The  journey  has  made  it  two-fold  more  a  labor  of  love 
to  trace  again  the  footsteps  of  Paid  and  his  associates, 
and  should  add  something  to  the  interpreter's  power  to 
unfold  the  history  of  their  sufferings  and  their  triumphs." 
Parts  were  rewritten,  and  the  work  was  enlarged  to  the 
extent  of  about  a  hundred  pages.  The  intervening  six 
years  had  witnessed  the  appearance  of  many  valuable 
works  relating  to  the  Acts,  of  which  the  writer  had  availed 
himself,  as  he  continued  to  devote  himself  to  the  subject 
in  his  study,  and  at  times  in  the  instruction  of  his  classes. 

A  notice,  which  was  a  thorough  study,  and  one  of  love, 
appeared  in  the  Christian  Review,  for  October,  1858,  from 
Rev.  G.  W.  Samson,  D.  D.  In  that  review,  attention  is 
called  to  the  fact  that  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  the 
central  book  of  the  entire  Bible ;  that  it  includes  every 
variety  of  history,  argument,  and  nice  use  of  the  Greek 
tongue  ;  and  shows  the  germs  of  all  former  and  subse- 
quent Christian  history.     The  qualifications  necessary  for 


VERDICTS    OF    CRITICS.  /9 

a  master  in  its  interpretation,  as  a  historian,  a  philologist,  a 
logician  and  a  theologian,  arc  developed  ;  after  which  the 
sentence  occurs:  "If  Dr.  Hackett's  Commentary  were 
perfect  in  each  of  these  respects,  it  would  he  more  than 
a  human  production.  No  unbiased  judge,  however,  will 
hesitate  to  place  it  at  the  head  of  all  that  has  yet  appeared, 
or  that  may  be  expected  soon  to  appear,  as  combining 
great  excellences  in  every  department  of  the  commen- 
tator's work." 

The  general  judgment  of  competent  authorities  upon 
this  work  accords  with  the  sentences  of  such  men  as  Dr. 
Peabody,  in  the  North  American  Review,  on  two  oc- 
casions ;  as  Dr.  Paton  J.  Gloag,  of  Scotland,  who,  in  his 
own  Commentary,  1870,  terms  it  "the  admirable  Com- 
mentary of  Dr.  Hackett,  decidedly  the  best  work  on 
the  subject  in  the  English  language;"  as  Tholuck,  who 
said,  not  many  years  since,  that  he  regarded  it  as  the  first 
of  American  Commentaries,  an  opinion  which  has  also 
been  ascribed  to  President  Woolsey ;  as  Meyer,  "the  prince 
of  New  Testament  expositors,"  who,  in  his  correspond- 
ence, has  made  honorable  mention  of  Dr.  Hackett,  and 
in  his  own  Commentary,  has  attested  familiarity  with  his 
positions  upon  important  questions. 

The  work  was  reprinted  in  England.  For  many  years 
before  his  death,  Dr.  Hackett  had  desired  to  enrich  it 
with  the  later  results  of  textual  criticism,  and  sacred 
scholarship,  but  the  plates  of  the  work  were  not  in  his 
possession. 


8o  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

1858-1859. 

THIRD    FOREIGN    TOUR. SWITZERLAND. RESIDENCE,  STUD- 
IES,   AND    TRAVELS,    IN    GREECE. RETURN    THROUGH 

AUSTRIA,    GERMANY,    BELGIUM,    ENGLAND. 

A  few  months  after  completing  the  second  edition  of 
the  Commentary  on  Acts,  Dr.  Hackett  set  out  upon  his 
third  foreign  tour.  July  15th,  1858,  he  was  voted  leave 
of  absence  from  the  Theological  Institution  for  one  year, 
to  perfect  himself  in  the  studies  of  his  department,  by 
residence  in  Greece.  At  the  same  time,  he  was,  by  this 
course,  further  qualifying  himself  for  the  work  of  transla- 
tion and  revision  instituted  by  the  American  Bible  Union, 
whose  service  he  entered  in  April,  1857,  and  under  whose 
auspices  he  went  to  Greece.  The  following  is  from  a 
paper  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Armitage : — 

"The  letter  in  which  he  set  forth  the  advantages  of 
this  important  step  exhibits  the  profound  care  and  con- 
scientiousness with  which  he  proceeded  to  his  arduous 
task,  and  the  high  estimate  which  he  placed  upon  its 
needed  thoroughness.  His  thoughts  on  this  point  are 
well  worthy  of  notice,  and  their  very  utterance  gives  us  a 
splendid  view  of  his  character  as  a  Biblical  reviser.  He 
says : — 

"'Of  the  journey  which  I  am  on  the  eve  of  making,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  offer  an  explanatory  remark  or  two. 
Though  I  have  other  objects  in  view  connected  with  the 
work  of  translation,  the  main  purpose  of  the  journey  is 


UTILITY    OF    MODERN    GREEK.  8 1 

to  give  some  attention  to  the  Greek  language,  as  spoken 
by  the  Greeks  at  the  present  day.  It  is  self-evident  that 
a  knowledge  of  this  language  as  thus  spoken,  however 
perfect  it  may  be,  and  whether  possessed  by  a  native 
Greek  or  a  foreigner,  would  not,  of  itself,  qualify  a  person 
to  translate  the  New  Testament  Greek ;  but  that  acquisi- 
tion, added  to  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  ancient 
Greek,  and  to  a  proper  training  in  the  work  of  interpre- 
tation, and  in  the  auxiliary  studies  related  thereto,  cannot 
fail  to  be  eminently  serviceable  to  the  Biblical  scholar. 
I  have  felt,  therefore,  that,  having  been,  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  more  or  less  conversant  with  the  language  in 
its  ancient  form,  I  might  enter  still  more  deeply  into  its 
spirit,  and  bring  it  nearer  to  me  as  a  living  power,  if  I 
could  sojourn  for  a  time  in  the  country  where  the  external 
objects  are  still  called  by  their  ancient  names,  and  where 
the  words  heard  from  the  mouth  of  the  people,  especially 
in  their  application  to  ecclesiastical  and  religious  subjects, 
retain  still  so  much  of  their  original  meaning.  If  I  am 
to  concentrate  myself  on  this  work  of  endeavoring  to 
understand  and  unfold  the  sense  of  the  language  of  Christ 
and  the  apostles,  I  feel  it  to  be  indispensable  to  me  to 
secure,  imperfectly  as  it  may  be  done,  the  benefit  of  such 
a  contact  with  the  still  extant  form  of  the  dialect  through 
which  the  Gospel  was  first  spoken,  and  still  speaks  to  our 
race.  With  this  feeling,  it  would  be  more  inexcusable 
in  me  to  be  willing  to  forego  the  use  of  any  collateral 
aid  which  it  may  be  in  my  power  to  apply  to  this  object. 
I  am  thankful,  therefore,  for  the  opportunity  to  make  this 
effort  to  increase  my  ability  for  the  performance  of  the 

work  undertaken,  and  hope  that,  with  the  divine  blessing 

7 


82  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

on  my  labors,  I  may  thus  be  more  useful  than  I  otherwise 
would  be  in  promoting  a  knowledge  of  God's  word.'" 

He  left  Boston  the  second  week  in  August,  and  arrived 
at  Liverpool  on  the  28th,  after  a  voyage  of  seventeen 
days,  in  the  Europa,  which  suffered  a  collision  with  another 
steamship,  narrowly  escaping  a  great  disaster. 

He  reached  Paris  at  midnight  of  September  first,  and 
left  it  early  on  the  morning  of  the  third,  for  Basel.  "Am 
mistaken  for  a  Frenchman  before  I  speak"  he  notes,  and 
farther  on,  "  This  coming  to  Basel  seems  like  repairing  a 
wrong."  The  reference  was,  probably,  to  his  feelings  at 
being  about  to  visit,  for  the  first  time,  the  home  and  grave 
of  De  Wette,  to  whom,  he  has  been  known  to  say,  he 
felt  that  he  was  even  more  indebted  than  to  Meyer.  The 
striking  similarity  between  De  Wette  and  Hackett,  as 
commentators,  in  the  power  of  condensed  and  clear  state- 
ment, cannot  fail  to  be  remarked. 

After  calling  on  Hagenbach  and  Stahelin,  he  visited 
Professor  Beck,  the  step-son  of  De  Wette,  whom  he 
found  indisposed,  at  the  house  of  his  sister,  Mrs.  Heitz. 
Charles  Beck,  who  took  the  degrees  of  Ph.  D.,  and  of 
A.  M.,  at  Tubingen,  in  1823,  was  an  ardent  lover  of 
liberty,  and  found  the  United  States  an  asylum,  in  early 
life.  He  was  Professor  of  the  Latin  language,  in  Har- 
vard College,  from  1832  till  1850,  and  was  a  patriotic 
citizen  of  his  adopted  country  until  his  death,  in  1866. 
Professor  Beck  spoke  of  De  Wette,  as  having  been  much 
moulded  by  Herder,  whom  he  knew  at  Weimar.  He 
could  write  successive  pages  without  a  word  of  correc- 
tion.    He  was  always  in  good  health ;  was  thrice  married. 

The  daughter  of  De  Wette  accompanied  Dr.  Hackett 


DE    WETTE.  83 

to  the  Elizabeth's  Kirchhof.  On  the  right  from  the  gate, 
u])  the  principal  path,  is  the  grave  of  De  Wette,  which 
was  planted  with  flowers.  Against  the  wall  is  a  tablet, 
with  a  likeness,  in  marble,  of  the  face;  a  side  view, — 
mouth  small  and  compressed, —  the  name  simply,  and 
D.  D.,  in  a  semi-eirele  around  the  head.  Beneath,  the 
place  and  time  of  birth  and  death, — no  word  of  epitaph. 
The  daughter  said,  that  as  she  saw  him  standing  at  the 
bed  of  her  brother,  she  was  struck  with  his  resemblance 
to  her  father.  They  went  to  the  house  where  he  lived 
fifteen  years,  saw  his  study,  where  he  wrote,  and  died, 
among  his  books ;  the  gardens,  where  he  spent  much 
time  among  his  flowers,  for  which  he  had  a  great  pas- 
sion. He  never  labored  after  one  o'clock;  slept  a  little 
in  the  afternoon,  and  walked  or  visited.  He  preached 
occasionally.  They  went  to  the  Minster  where  Erasmus 
is  buried.  The  custodian  said  to  the  lady,  "This  gentle- 
man is  very  like  your  father,"  and  she,  turning,  asked  Dr. 
Hackett  if  he  understood  what  had  been  said. 

The  next  day,  which  was  the  Sabbath,  he  spent  in 
Zurich,  attending  St.  Peter's,  the  church  in  which  Lavater 
preached,  whose  writings  he  liked  to  peruse.  His  route 
was  by  way  of  Luzern,  Bern,  Thun,  Giessbach,  Interlachen, 
Grindelwald,  Lauterbrunnen,  Bern,  Freiburg,  Vevey, 
and  Eausanne,  with  their  varied  attractions  and  beauties, 
to  Geneva,  where  he  heard  Malan,  and  had  an  interview 
with  him.  Thence  to  Chamonix,  and  through  the  Tete 
Noire  to  Martigny,  and  by  the  Simplon  pass  into  Italy. 
With  hurried  enjoyment  of  the  Italian  lakes,  he  came  to 
Milan,  and  thence  to  Venice  and  Trieste.  Passing  from 
Ancona  to  Brindisi,  he  embarked  for  Corfu,  and,  in  four 


84  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

days  from  Corfu,  arrived  at  Athens,  on  the  fifteenth  of 
October. 

This  was  his  place  of  residence  for  the  next  six 
months.  His  note  books  and  his  library  bear  witness 
to  the  zeal  with  which  he  gave  himself  to  the  aims  of  his 
pilgrimage,  as  set  forth  in  his  letter  above.  Another 
monument  of  this  period  was  the  modern  Greek  pronun- 
ciation, which  he  brought  back  with  him,  and  ever  after 
employed.  He  agreed,  it  would  seem,  with  the  position 
of  scholars  at  Athens  on  this  subject,  as  Professor  Felton 
learned  it  from  them  in  conversations,  and  has  reported 
it  in  his  lectures  on  Ancient  and  Modern  Greece: — 

"They  all  admit  that  the  musical  element  of  quantity 
has  disappeared  from  their  language,  but  insist,  with  a 
£Ood  show  of  reason,  that  those  who  have  inherited  the 
language  from  the  past,  and  who  have  always  heard  it,  by 
unbroken  tradition  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  in  their 
churches,  are  more  likely  to  have  a  pronunciation  resem- 
bling that  of  their  ancestors,  than  the  nations  of  Europe, 
who  apply  to  the  Greek  the  pronunciation  of  their  own 
languages,  and  consequently  differ  from  one  another." 

He  was  much  in  the  schools,  especially  Dr.  Hill's,  for 
so  many  years  the  celebrated  American  missionary  teacher. 
In  the  University,  he  had  the  opportunity  of  hearing  the 
accomplished  Biblical  scholar,  Professor  Kontogones,  and 
his  colleague,  Professor  Pharmakicles ;  also  the  venerable 
Asopios,  who,  as  Professor  Felton  said,  expounded  Homer 
with  the  vivacity  of  a  Nestor,  and  who  seems  to  have 
been  now  lecturing  on  ^Eschylus. 

He  attended  upon  religious  services  at  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Jonas  King's,  who  was  an  agent  of  the  Philhellenists  in 


VISIT    TO    PHILIPPI.  85 

this  country,  after  the  battle  of  Navarino,  and  became  a 
life-long  and  widely-known  missionary  of  the  American 
Board. 

In  the  month  of  December,  Dr.  Hackett  visited  several 
interesting  localities.  On  the  second,  he  left  Athens  for 
Chalcis;  on  the  fifth  he  was  at  Salonica,  the  ancient  Thes- 
salonica,  earlier  Therma.  Returning  to  Yolo,  in  Thessaly, 
near  the  ancient  Iolchos,  he  crossed  by  steamer  to  Kavalla, 
the  ancient  Neapolis,  arriving  on  the  eleventh.  On  the 
thirteenth  he  started  for  Philippi,  of  which  excursion 
there  is  an  interesting-  account  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra, 
for  October,  i860,  containing  the  following  passage:— 

"  Before  leaving  the  scene,  I  sat  down  upon  one  of  the 
prostrate  columns,  and  read  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 
The  recollections,  the  place,  the  circumstances,  brought 
home  to  me  the  contents  with  new  vividness  and  power. 
I  had  just  traversed  the  road  by  which  Paul  and  his 
associates  approached  the  city.  The  gateway  where  they 
entered  was  within  sight.  I  could  hear  the  rushing  of  the 
stream,  upon  the  bank  of  which  Paul  declared  the  name 
of  Jesus,  and  rejoiced  over  his  first  converts  on  a  new 
continent.  On  my  left  passed  the  Egnatian  Way,  along 
which  Epaphroditus,  the  bearer  of  the  epistle,  hurried 
with  tidings  of  the  apostle  from  his  cell  at  Rome.  The 
silent  Stadium  lay  before  me  on  the  hill-side,  of  which 
his  illustration  reminded  the  Philippians,  as  he  held  up  to 
them  his  own  example  for  imitation  in  striving  for  the 
ftpafte7ov,  the  imperishable  crown,  which  is  to  reward  the 
Christian  victor.  Within  the  space  under  my  eye  must 
have  stood  the  house  where  the  first  disciples  were  gath- 
ered for  worship,  and  called  on  the  name  of  Christ.    One 


86  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

of  the  mounds  around  me  may  have  been  the  ruins  of 
the  prison,  which  resounded  with  the  praises  of  Paul  and 
Silas,  and  which  the  earthquake  shook  to  its  foundations. 
I  thought  especially  of  the  moment  when  the  following 
great  words  were  read,  and  heard  here  for  the  first  time, 
and  of  the  myriads  since  that  moment  whose  souls  those 
words  have  stirred  to  their  inmost  depths,  in  all  genera- 
tions, and  in  all  parts  of  the  earth : — 'Let  this  mind  be 
in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus:  who,  being  in 
the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with 
God  :  but  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took 
upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the 
likeness  of  men :  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man, 
he  humbled  himself,  and  became  obedient  unto  death, 
even  the  death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore  God  also  hath 
highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him  a  name  which  is  above 
every  name :  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee 
should  bow,  of  tilings  in  heaven,  and  tilings  in  earth,  and 
things  under  the  earth  ;  and  that  every  tongue  should 
confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father.' 

"  One  could  not,  under  such  circumstances,  repress  a  new 
and  yet  more  ardent  prayer  that  the  day  of  this  universal 
recognition  may  soon  come,  and  in  the  meanwhile,  that 
the  spirit  of  the  sublime  passage  may  pass  more  fully  into 
the  lives  of  those  who  profess  and  call  themselves  Chris- 
tians." 

He  left  Kavalla  on  the  twenty-third,  arrived  at  Dar- 
danelles on  the  24th,  and  on  Christmas-day  was  under 
way,  at  an  early  hour,  for  Smyrna.  Here  he  thought' of 
the    Apostle    John,    and   of   Polycarp,    and   of   Ignatius, 


VIENNA,    LEIPZIG    AND    HALLE.  87 

as  he  touched  here,  on  his  way  to  meet  death  at  Rome. 
On  the  last  day  of  the  month,  he  was  back  again  at 
Athens,  by  way  of  Syra,  remaining  engrossed  in  his  studies, 
until  the  twenty-first  of  March,  1859,  when  he  made  a 
three-days'  trip  to  Thebes,  Platrea,  and  Eleusis.  On  the 
24th  he  records,  "  Resumed  lessons."  This  is  the  date 
of  a  letter  to  New  York,  in  which  he  says  :— 

"  I  have  never  had  a  moment's  misgiving  as  to  the 
utility  of  this  journey.  I  feel  much  stronger  for  the  work, 
and  am  sine  that  I  can  now  perform  it  with  much  more 
satisfaction  to  myself,  and  that  the  result  will  vindicate 
fully  the  wisdom  of  the  course.  I  shall  allow  nothing 
hereafter  to  interfere  with  my  devoting  my  full  energies 
to  the  labors  before  me  in  connection  with  the  New 
Testament." 

Three  weeks  after,  on  the  13th  of  April,  he  terminated 
his  busy  and  pleasant  residence  at  Athens.  In  a  week's 
time  he  reached  Trieste,  from  which  he  proceeded  on  his 
first  visit  to  Vienna,  the  grand  and  the  gay  capital.  It  is 
somewhat  amusing  to  find  this  grave  scholar  coinciding 
with  so  many  young  men  and  maidens,  the  world  over,  in 
the  enthusiastic  declaration  that  Strauss's  music  was  the 
best  he  ever  heard.  It  may  well  be  believed,  however, 
that  the  Imperial  Library  had  more  charms  for  him  than 
the  Yolksgarten.  From  Vienna,  he  visited  Prague,  and 
came  for  the  third  time  to  Leipzig,  at  the  end  of  April. 

Here,  and  at  Halle,  a  fortnight  was  delightfully  spent. 
He  dined  at  Mr.  Tauchnitz's,  heard  Professor  Moll  preach, 
met  Lechler,  Tischendorf,  and  other  men  of  eminence, 
and  called  on  Rodiger  and  Hupfeld,  once  more ;  also  on 
Professor  Ross,  who  went  with  Otho  to  Greece,  and  was 


88  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

professor  in  the  University  there,  but  was  obliged  to  give 
way  to  a  dislike  of  German  influence.  Chief  pleasure,  as 
ever,  was  the  brief  renewal  of  intimacy  with  the  Tholucks. 
He  liked  Tholuck's  religion, — "so  much  humanity  in  it, — 
some  are  very  pious,  but  not  so  on  the  human  side."  Mrs. 
Tholuck,  "a  true  follower  of  Christ,"  spoke  of  her  father 
as  "gone  home,"  and  so  of  her  mother.  "  Leave  some  of 
your  heart  here !"  she  said  at  parting,  on  the  12th  of  May. 
The  next  day  he  was  at  Eisenach,  and  on  the  Wart- 
burg.  On  the  next,  he  attended  an  exercise  of  Ewald's,  at 
Gottingen.  In  looks,  he  was  like  Theodore  Parker,  except 
as  being  more  refined  ;  had  long,  but  not  gray,  hair.  He 
asked  questions  of  a  single  student,  and  designated  an- 
other for  the  next  exercise.  He  was  on  the  second 
chapter  of  Joel.  He  had  a  pompous  manner,  was  evi- 
dently an  emotional  man,  and  seemed  to  have  a  strong 
grasp  on  the  hearers.  Revisiting  Cassel,  Dr.  Hackett 
came,  by  Frankfort  and  Cologne,  to  Brussels,  whence  he 
made  the  excursion  to  Waterloo.  He  reached  London, 
through  Ghent  and  Calais,  on  the  28th  of  May,  and  on  the 
next  day  attended  divine  service  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
It  was,  probably,  about  this  time,  that  he  met  Trench  and 
Ellicott,  whose  courtesy  he  is  remembered  to  have  men- 
tioned. He  arrived  home  in  time  for  the  Anniversary  at 
Newton. 


ADDRESS    ON    BIBLE    REVISION.  89 


CHAPTER     IX. 

1 859-1 860. 

ADDRESS    ON     BIBLE     REVISION. LABORS    ON    THE     EPISTLE 

TO    PHILEMON. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  academical  year,  in  1859, 
Dr.  Hackett  so  far  departed  from  his  almost  inflexible 
refusal  to  appear  in  public  as  a  speaker,  especially  during 
terms,  as  to  proceed  to  New  York,  and  there  deliver  what 
has  been  termed  "  his  immortal  and  unanswerable  argu- 
ment "  on  revision.  The  address  is  so  pertinent,  not  only 
as  a  defence  of  the  pioneer  labors  of  the  Society  before 
whom  it  was  spoken,  but  also,  in  relation  to  the  united 
movement  of  the  most  distinguished  Christian  scholars  of 
England  and  America,  in  which  Dr.  Hackett  was  engaged 
at  the  time  of  his  death, — a  movement  answering  the 
mingled  tone  of  prophecy  and  aspiration  in  the  address, — 
that  it  has  been  decided  to  present  it  here  in  full.  It  was 
published  by  the  American  Bible  Union,  with  the  title  :— 

"Rev.  H.  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.,  on  Revision. — Remarks 
before  the  American  Bible  Union,  at  its  tenth  anniversary, 
New  York,  October  6th,  1859." 

"If  I  entertained  any  doubt  before,  I  can  doubt  no 
longer  that  this  cause  is  commending  itself  more  and 
more  to  the  confidence  and  favor  of  the  Christian  public. 
The  presence  to-day  of  this  large  assembly,  the  constant 
attendance  through  all  the  sessions  of  this  body,  the  spirit 
of  earnest    purpose    as   well    as   intelligence,    which    has 


90  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

characterized  the  speeches  made  here,  the  Reports  of  the 
delegates  to  which  we  have  listened,  who  represent  all 
parts  of  the  country  and  different  denominations,  convince 
me,  and  must  convince  every  one,  that  the  principle 
which  animates  this  movement  has  something  vital  in  it, 
and  will  assert  its  claim  to  recognition  sooner  or  later,  in 
some  form  or  other,  whatever  opposition  and  prejudice  it 
may  yet  have  to  overcome. 

"  It  has  been  said,  and  said  with  much  truth,  that  all  the 
great  problems  of  human  speculation  come  back  to  men 
after  certain  intervals  of  time  for  reexamination  ;  that  it 
is  necessary  for  each  generation  to  discuss  many  of  them 
anew  in  accordance  with  its  own  mental  wants  and  char- 
acteristics. It  must  be  accounted  strange  indeed,  then,  if 
this  question  of  the  agreement  of  the  English  Scriptures, 
with  the  Original  Scriptures  from  which  they  derive  all 
their  authority,  is  the  only  question  that  is  to  be  put  for- 
ever out  of  the  circle  of  the  appropriate  topics  for 
renewed  inquiry  and  consideration.  I  should  lament  as 
much  as  any  one  the  decay  of  any  proper  reverence  for 
the  past ;  but  it  is  exacting  a  good  deal  of  us,  I  think,  to 
require  us  to  admit  with  unquestioning  apathy  that  our 
forefathers  have  made  up  a  case  for  us  in  regard  to  this 
particular  subject,  which  is  past  all  review,  which  is  to  be 
received  as  settled  for  all  time. 

"It  is  an  instructive  fact  that  there  has  sprung  up  sim- 
ultaneously in  so  many  different  countries  a  conviction 
that  the  time  has  come  when  the  vernacular  versions  of 
the  Bible  should  be  made  to  conform  to  the  present  state 
of  biblical  studies.  I  have  passed  recently  through  some 
of  these  foreign  lands,  and  have  taken  pains  to  inform 


ADDRESS    ON    BIBLE    REVISION.  9 1 

myself  on  the  subject.  It  might  be  thought  that  the 
veneration  of  Protestant  Germany  for  Luther's  name 
would  have  left  his  translation,  so  excellent  in  many 
respects,  untouched.  But  so  it  is  not.  There,  too,  the 
public  mind  has  taken  hold  of  this  matter.  It  has  not 
only  called  forth  discussion,  but  been  brought  before  the 
ecclesiastical  bodies ;  and  a  committee  has  been  appointed 
(some  of  whom  I  saw  and  conversed  with)  to  report  the 
facts  in  the  case  and  suggest  means  for  procuring  the 
necessary  corrections.  One  writer  says  that  at  least 
twelve  hundred  and  fifty  changes  should  be  made.  The 
excellent  Tholuck  says,  that  as  all  the  authorities  agree 
that  various  passages  are  mistranslated,  the  editions  of  the 
Bible  for  the  use  of  the  people  ought  not  to  perpetuate 
the  errors.  I  could  mention  the  testimony  of  many  other 
eminent  men  to  the  same  effect.  Appeals  are  constantly 
made  through  the  press  for  some  prompt  action  here. 
The  appearance  of  Bunsen's  work  is  a  proof  of  the  exis- 
tence of  this  awakened  feeling.  I  am  sure  that  if  Luther 
himself  could  speak  from  his  grave,  he  would  be  heard 
encouraging  such  efforts,  and  not  protesting  against  them ; 
for  when  he  was  living  he  said :  '  Though  I  have  done 
the  best  I  could,  I  am  conscious  of  my  imperfections; 
and  if  any  one  shall  arise  after  me  who  has  more  light, 
and  can  improve  my  work,  let  him  do  it,  and  let  the 
people  adopt  his  truth  and  not  cling  to  my  errors.'  There 
you  hear  the  genuine  voice  of  the  old  reformer,  and  it 
should  awaken  its  echo  in  the  heart  of  every  true  Pro- 
testant. A  similar  movement  is  taking  place  in  Belgium 
and  Holland.  The  Saxon  nations  of  the  north  of  Europe 
are  stirring  in  the  matter.     The  government  of  Norway 


92  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

has  appointed  a  commission  to  revise  the  common  trans- 
lation of  that  country.  Among  the  scholars  who  compose 
this  commission  is  Dr.  Caspari,  who  is  not  unknown  on 
this  side  of  the  water.  The  work  is  begun  and  parts  of 
the  new  version  have  appeared.  In  England  the  subject 
engages  still  the  earnest  attention  of  the  public.  Some 
of  the  best  Biblical  scholars  of  that  country  are  avowedly 
in  favor  of  emendation.  Hardly  a  commentary  of  any 
repute  is  published,  that  has  not  a  revised  translation  of 
the  common  version  attached  to  it.  The  Episcopal 
Church  there,  which  is  not  prone  to  welcome  changes, 
furnishes  a  strong  array  of  names  on  this  side  of  the 
question.  The  tide  of  feeling  has  risen  too  high  and 
spread  too  far  to  pass  away  without  leading  to  some 
important  result. 

"  Of  our  own  country  I  would  say  a  single  word. 
Over  and  above  the  open  support  which  the  cause 
receives,  there  is,  I  am  persuaded,  a  great  amount  of 
undeclared  sentiment  in  our  favor.  I  might  offer  various 
proofs  of  this  statement.  I  will  mention  one  single  fact. 
It  happens  to  be  within  my  personal  knowledge  that 
several  of  the  Professors  who  teach  the  Biblical  studies 
in  the  Theological  Seminaries  of  different  denominations, 
scruple  not  to  say  that  it  is  high  time  to  look  at  this 
question  ;  and  they  are  inquiring  anxiously  what  can  be 
done  and  what  they  should  do  to  meet  the  exigency. 
This  is  not  surprising ;  for  there  would  be  slender  reason 
for  the  establishment  of  the  professorships  which  they 
occupy,  if  they  were  unable  to  extend  the  knowledge  of 
their  pupils  beyond  what  they  can  obtain  for  themselves 
through  the  medium  of  the  present   English  translation. 


ADDRESS    ON    BIBLE    REVISION.  93 

Would  that  these  brethren  could  see  their  way  clear  to 
unite  with  us  in  our  labors  for  this  object.  Most  gladly 
would  I  welcome  the  accession  of  such  coadjutors,  and 
I  would  hope  that  the  time  is  nigh  when  we  shall  have 
the  benefit  of  their  open  advocacy  of  this  cause,  and  the 
benefit  of  their  personal  cooperation. 

"  There  are  two  or  three  points  on  which,  from  my 
position  as  one  of  the  translators,  I  wish  to  touch  briefly, 
and  to  which  the  other  speakers  may  not  be  led  so 
naturally  to  advert. 

"It  is  charged  against  this  asssociation  that  it  is  sec- 
tarian because  some  of  the  revisers,  whose  names  have 
been  made  public,  belong  to  a  particular  religious  con- 
nection. I  will  not  insist  now  on  the  fact  that  the 
constitution  of  this  society  invites  the  cooperation  of 
Christians  of  every  name,  and  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
work  of  revision  hitherto  performed  has  been  performed, 
as  I  understand,  by  other  persons  than  Baptist  scholars. 
I  agree  (it  is  no  secret  I  suppose)  with  the  sentiments  of 
one  of  the  Christian  denominations ;  and  if  I  have  any 
sentiments  at  all,  how,  I  beg  to  ask,  could  I  entertain  the 
sentiments  of  all  the  different  denominations  at  the  same 
time?  But  am  I,  therefore,  necessarily  sectarian,  because 
I  thus  differ  from  others,  any  more  than  they  are'  sectarian 
because  they  differ  from  me  ?  Or  am  I  sectarian  at  all, 
in  any  sense,  to  disqualify  me  for  the  performance  of  this 
work,  so  far  forth  merely  as  my  religious  views  are 
concerned?  To  what,  I  pray,  does  this  charge  of  sec- 
tarianism reduce  itself?  Is  not  a  man  who  undertakes 
this  labor  to  have  any  religious  convictions  ?  Would 
you    entrust    it    to    those    who    have    no   fixed  religious 


94  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

belief?  Is  it  not  evident  that  nothing  can  ever  be  done 
here  unless  it  be  done  by  those  who  have  some  definite 
religious  opinions?  If,  then,  you  would  not  employ  men 
utterly  destitute  of  religious  convictions  to  perform  so 
religious  and  Christian  a  work,  and  if  believing  men 
cannot  be  expected  to  believe  everything  where  opinions 
clash,  what  remains  ?  The  translator  must  symbolize 
with  some  one  religious  body  rather  than  another ;  and  if 
that  body  is  the  Episcopalian  or  Congregationalist  or 
Methodist,  I  would  not  say  that  a  translation  from  the 
hand  of  a  member  of  those  sects  was  necessarily  any  more 
sectarian,  than  if  it  was  from  the  hand  of  a  Baptist ;  and, 
vice  versa,  I  see  not  with  what  propriety  some  persons 
are  pleased  to  stigmatize  the  publications  of  this  society 
as  necessarily  sectarian,  if  they  come  from  Baptists,  and 
not  from  our  Episcopalian  or  Congregationalist  brethren. 
Let  us  learn  to  be  more  just  to  one  another. 

"  There  is  a  wrong  idea  ( I  trust  no  wrong  feeling  but 
a  wrong  idea)  on  the  part  of  many  who  make  so  free  with 
this  opprobrious  epithet.  A  given  rendering  of  a  passage 
which  favors  one  creed  more  than  another,  is  not  on  that 
account,  merely,  a  sectarian  rendering ;  it  is  the  adoption 
of  a  renderinor  against  the  evidence,  or  without  sufficient 
evidence  which  makes  the  rendering  sectarian.  If  you 
complain  of  a  rendering  as  sectarian,  refute  it ;  show  that 
the  reasons  alleged  for  it  are  futile  or  insufficient,  and 
that  the  evidence  of  philology  demands  a  different  one, 
and  that  the  man  therefore  is  blinded  to  the  light  by 
partiality  or  prejudice.  When  a  case  like  that  is  made 
out,  you  may  fix  there  the  brand  of  sectarianism ;  but  not 
otherwise. 


ADDRESS    ON     BIBLE    REVISION.  95 

"What  I  have  just  now  intimated  suggests  the  remedy 
and  safeguard  against  sectarian  attempts  to  overlook  or 
falsify  the  truth.  The  age  in  which  we  live  is  an  enlight- 
ened age.  Scholarship  is  not  confined  to  any  one  coun- 
try or  sect.  Every  one  who  writes  a  book  now  on  a  scien- 
tific or  biblical  subject,  is  amenable  not  only  to  his  own 
conscience  and  sense  of  personal  honor,  but  to  a  high 
public  tribunal  which  will  pass  judgment  on  his  labors. 
Be  it  remembered  too,  that  this  matter  of  the  translation 
and  interpretation  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  is  subject  to 
fixed  laws.  The  are  controlling  facts  and  principles  here 
which  a  person  can  no  more  change  than  he  can  change 
the  nature  of  electricity  or  steam.  A  manifestly  one- 
sided work  from  your  translators  would  be  exposed  at 
once  ;  it  would  incur  contempt,  and  would  deserve  it, 
and  fall  to  the  ground.  No  intelligent  man  in  these 
times  would  venture  upon  such  an  experiment.  There  is 
very  little  occasion  in  truth  for  this  dread  of  sectarianism. 
The  evil,  if  attempted,  would  avenge  itself.  Nothing  can 
live  here  unless  it  be  well  supported,  fair,  catholic. 

"  I  claim  no  exemption  from  the  common  infirmities, 
and  biases  of  human  nature  ;  but  I  have  sufficient  confi- 
dence in  myself  to  say  that  I  am  no  religious  partisan. 
I  have  searched  my  own  heart  in  vain,  if  I  would  know- 
ingly interpose  a  single  idea  of  my  own  or  any  shade  of 
an  idea  between  the  mind  of  the  reader  of  God's  Word 
and  any  one  of  its  holy  declarations.  I  should  esteem  it 
as  disloyal  and  reprehensible  in  myself,  as  in  any  other 
person,  to  twist  or  force  in  the  slightest  degree  any  pas- 
sage, or  word  of  a  passage,  in  the  Bible,  for  the  purpose 
of  upholding  my  own  individual  sentiments,  or  those  of 


g6  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

any  party.  If  any  critic  should  deem  it  worth  while  to 
notice  anything  that  I  may  write,  I  ask  of  him  no  greater 
favor  than  that  he  would  see  to  it  that  he  judges  of  my 
work  with  as  little  of  a  sectarian  spirit  as  I  am  conscious 
of  having  indulged  in  the  performance  of  that  work. 
And  it  is  an  act  of  simple  justice  to  say  that  the  man- 
agers of  this  society  have  left  me  as  free  in  this  respect 
as  the  air  we  breathe.  They  have  imposed  upon  me  no 
condition  or  restraint  whatever.  They  have  merely  said 
to  me :  '  Study  God's  Word  with  painstaking  and  prayer ; 
endeavor  to  ascertain  as  accountable,  not  unto  men,  but 
to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  all,  w licit  that  Word  means; 
and  then  what  the  Bible  is  found  to  mean,  that  let  the 
Bible  say.' 

"Another  ground  of  hesitation  with  some  is  not 
whether  the  English  Scriptures  as  a  translation  are  per- 
fect, or  so  perfect  as  they  might  be  and  should  be,  but 
whether  the  time  has  come  to  revise  them,  because  so 
many  questions  are  still  unsettled,  which  in  the  rapid 
progress  of  knowledge  may  yet  be  cleared  up.  We 
should  wait,  it  is  said,  till  the  doubts  still  existing  respect- 
ing the  sense  of  various  Hebrew  and  Greek  words, 
respecting  variations  of  the  text  still  in  dispute,  respecting 
the  genuineness  of  some  particular  book  or  parts  of  a 
book,  are  removed ;  and  then  when  the  light  shines  more 
perfectly  and  upon  everything,  it  may  be  proper  to  take 
advantage  of  this'  perfected  state  of  knowledge,  and  bring 
the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  accordance  with  it." 

"  I  have  a  short  answer  to  make  to  this  very  romantic 
view  of  the  subject,  as  it  seems  to  me.  If  we  are  to  wait 
till  everything  is  known  before  anything  is  done,  it  is 


ADDRESS    ON    BIBLE    REVISION.  97 

quite  certain  that  nothing  ever  will  be  done.  We  must 
be  content  forever  with  an  imperfect  work,  which  can 
confessedly  he  improved,  because  we  will  accept  of  noth- 
ing short  of  that  absolutely  perfect  work  which  is  an 
impossibility.  This  argument  is  merely  the  old  story 
over  again.  You  will  allow  me  to  use  a  license  of  my 
office  and  quote  a  Latin  couplet : — 

Rusticus  expectat  dum  defluat  amnis ;  at  ille 
Labitur  et  labetur  in  omne  volubilis  sevum. 

That  is,  to  Americanize  the  sentiment:  A  timid  traveler 
sits  down  upon  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and,  afraid 
to  venture,  will  take  no  means  to  cross  the  stream  until 
the  waters  have  all  flowed  by ;  and  there  he  sits  waiting, 
and  waiting,  and  waiting ;  and  how  long  I  beg  to  ask  will 
he  not  be  compelled  to  wait  ?  There  are,  I  think,  better 
models  than  this  for  us  to  imitate.  Why  should  we 
deprive  ourselves  and  others  of  the  benefit  of  what  is 
already  known,  because  more  may  be  known  hereafter  ? 
Two  centuries  and  a  half  have  been  pouring  their  light 
on  these  subjects.  Why  should  we  not  gather  up  the 
scattered  rays,  and  concentrate  them  on  the  sacred  page, 
and  let  every  eye  of  laity,  as  well  as  clergy,  be  cheered 
with  the  sight  of  any  new  truths  or  new  aspects  of  old 
truths,  which  research,  study,  piety  may  have  disclosed  to 
us  in  the  great  book  of  God's  revelations  ?  Be  it  so,  that 
a  great  deal  may  be  brought  to  light  hereafter,  of  which 
we  are  ignorant  now.  A  great  deal  has  been  done,  as 
every  one  admits,  in  the  long  interval  since  the  fathers 
fell  asleep ;  let  us  secure  that,  and  apply  it  to  its  proper 
uses.     If  a  golden  shower  has  fallen  upon  your  fields,  and 


98  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

the  tempting  prize  lies  glittering  at  your  feet,  though  you 
may  believe  that  the  clouds  contain  still  other  treasures, 
and  will  let  them  fall  in  due  time  upon  the  earth,  will  you 
refuse  to  stretch  forth  your  hands  and  gather  into  your 
coffers  what  is  already  within  reach,  because  you  cannot 
grasp  in  the  present  moment  all  which  a  bountiful  nature 
may  hereafter  supply  ?  O,  no !  The  children  of  this 
world  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than  that ;  let  us  be 
as  wise. 

But — (for  I  may  not  shrink  from  the  topic,  delicate  as 
it  is,  since  it  is  so  often  thrust  before  us) — though  the 
principle,  you  may  say,  is  right,  and  a  revision  in  conform- 
ity with  it  may  be  desirable;  yet  is  it  attainable  ?  Is  it 
not  presumptuous  for  any  class  of  men  in  this  age  to  sit 
in  judgment  on  the  labors  of  the  old  scholars  ?  Is  the 
knowledge  of  the  present  race  of  students  equal  to  the 
undertaking  ?  I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  respect  for  the 
scholarship  of  former  times,  and  I  yield  to  no  one  in  my 
sense  of  the  difficulty  of  performing  the  proposed  task 
with  due  intelligence,  fidelity,  and  skill.  But,  I  must  say, 
it  strikes  me  as  not  a  little  singular,  that  I  hear  this 
objection  urged  so  pertinaciously  against  this  particular 
form  of  irreverence  (if  it  be  such),  and  not  against  other 
manifestations  of  the  same  spirit,  which  no  one  thinks  of 
visiting  with  any  rebuke.  The  Professors  in  the  Theo- 
logical Seminaries  are  not  reproached  as  presumptuous, 
because  they  teach  their  pupils  that  the  common  version 
has  missed  the  sense  in  some  passages,  or  has  presented  it 
imperfectly.  There  has  not  been  a  time  since  the  age  of 
King  James  when  preachers  have  not  exercised  this  right 
of  critical  judgment    in    the    presence    of   their  congre- 


ADDRESS    ON    BIBLE    REVISION.  99 

gations.  You  arc  not  accustomed  to  read  a  Commentary, 
in  your  chambers,  or  your  families,  in  which  the  writers 
do  not  dissent  often  from  the  traditional  interpretation  of 
the  text.  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  it  is  customary  to 
censure  this  freedom,  as  forbidden  by  any  proper  respect 
for  ancient  authority. 

I  admit  that  the  old  scholars  have  reared  for  us  some 
noble  monuments  of  learning,  which  will  stand  to  the 
end  of  time.  There  is  no  doubt  that  those  who  cultivated 
the  ancient  languages,  at  the  time  of  the  revival  of  letters 
so  called,  and  soon  after,  acquired  a  facility  in  the  collo- 
quial and  written  use  of  them,  to  some  extent,  and  a 
facility  in  reading  the  ancient  authors,  which  has  rarely 
been  surpassed  or  equalled.  But  the  distinction  of  the 
later  scholarship  I  take  to  be  this : — -It  embraces  a  more 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  structure  and  idioms  of  the  old 
tongues,  and  of  the  logical  force  and  signification  of  the 
words.  Greek  Lexicography  (to  say  nothing  of  Hebrew), 
in  its  present  scientific  mode  of  treatment,  Greek  Gram- 
mar, in  its  more  perfect  mastery  of  the  syntax,  Greek 
Synonymy,  which  treats  of  the  related  meaning  of  words, 
are  essentially  sciences  of  the  modern  philology ;  and,  be 
it  noted,  it  is  precisely  these  branches  of  learning  which 
afford  to  scholars  the  help  which  they  need  for  carrying 
on  the  uncompleted  labors  of  the  past.  It  is  our  felicity 
that  we  live  after  such  men,  and  thus  are  enabled  to  use 
the  instruments  which  they  have  prepared  for  us,  in 
addition  to  the  aids  peculiar  to  our  own  times.  Is  it 
presumptuous  to  say  as  much  as  this  ?  The  homely 
proverb  hath  it : — Pigmies,  on  the  shoulders  of  giants, 
may  see  as  far  as  the  giants  themselves. 


IOO  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

The  celebrated  Burke  has  said,  that  there  are  some 
pursuits  in  which  we  are  sure  of  the  chase,  even  if  we 
miss  the  game.  There  are  some  enterprises  which  it  is 
impossible  to  prosecute  without  securing  collateral 
advantages  amply  sufficient  to  compensate  for  all  the  toil 
which  they  involve,  over  and  above  the  ultimate  aim  of 
the  endeavor.  So  it  is  in  this  case.  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  nothing"  is  so  much  needed  in  the  Christian  world,  at 
the  present  time,  as  some  movement  which  will  show  that 
those  who  profess  to  receive  the  Bible,  not  as  a  store- 
house of  mottoes,  or  rhetorical  illustrations,  or  pleasant 
phrases,  that  sound  well  to  the  ear  whether  they  convey 
a  true  idea  or  not,  but  as  the  veritable  Bible,  the  Book  of 
books,  the  source  of  living  and  immortal  truth,  our  only 
source  of  all  certain  knowledge  on  religious  subjects,  the 
arbiter  of  faith  and  practice — that  nothing,  I  say,  just  now 
would  be  so  useful,  and  so  effectually  assert  the  claims  of 
the  Bible  to  men's  attention,  as  the  spectacle  of  the  great 
body  of  Christians  laboring  zealously  together  to  remove 
every  obstruction  to  the  proper  influence  of  this  Word  ; 
testifying  their  reverence  and  love  for  it,  and  heart-felt 
confidence  in  it,  by  bestowing  upon  it  all  the  care,  and 
study,  and  expense  necessary  for  bringing  out  all  the 
riches  of  its  power  for  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor, 
learned  and  unlearned  ;  thus  showing  that  they  hold  to  it 
and  deem  it  worth  something ;  rebuking  thereby  the 
doubt  so  often  entertained,  if  not  expressed,  Where  is 
your  faith  in  a  Book  which,  if  important  at  all,  is  all 
important,  and  important  in  all  its  parts? — how  useful 
and  instructive,  I  say  again,  in  this  age  when  the  great 
religious  question  is  that  concerning  the  place  which  the 


ADDRESS    ON     BIBLE    REVISION.  IOI 

Bible  is  to  occupy  in  men's  theology  and  practical  regard, 
must  be  any  spectacle  of  earnest  and  self-sacrificing  effort 
adapted  to  point  out  to  men  the  right  position  on  this 
question — the  speetaele  of  all  ready  to  do  their  part, 
scholars  with  their  diligence  and  learning,  the  wise-hearted 
with  their  gifts; — all  who  profess  to  receive  the  Bible 
marking  their  sense  of  its  supreme  importance,  not  merely 
by  sending  it  to  the  heathen,  but  by  bringing  it  home  to 
our  own  doors  and  bosoms  within  the  limits  of  Christen- 
dom itself,  that  we  may  show  our  estimate  of  God's 
Word  by  striving  to  bring  our  own  minds  and  the  minds 
of  others  as  near  as  possible  to  a  full  comprehension  of 
all  the  truth  which  God  has  revealed.  Such  a  testimony 
is  the  existence  and  attitude  of  this  organization.  Let  it 
be  wisely  conducted,  and  vigorously  upheld,  and  it  con- 
tains in  it  the  germ  of  a  capacity  to  do  as  much,  both  for 
the  promotion  of  the  higher  interests  of  Biblical  learning 
and  for  the  practical  assertion  of  the  worth  of  the  Scrip- 
tures among  the  people  at  large,  as  any  institution  of 
the  age. 

A  few  weeks  ago  I  was  at  Eisenach,  in  Germany,  under 
the  shadow  of  Luther's  Wartburg,  where,  during  his  im- 
prisonment as  Junker  George,  he  translated  the  New 
Testament  into  the  mother-tongue  of  the  Teutonic  tribes 
of  Germany.  The  room  there  which  he  occupied  remains 
to  this  hour  just  as  he  left  it;  the  armor  which  he  wore, 
his  bed,  his  chair,  his  table  at  which  he  studied  day  and 
night,  are  to  be  seen  still,  as  if  days  merely,  and  not  cen- 
turies, had  passed  since  he  ceased  from  his  labors.  It  will 
be  understood  that  I  did  not  fail  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to 
this  memorable  spot.     As  I  bent  my  steps  thither  from 


102  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

the  town,  I  had  the  castellated  mount  where  the  old 
prison  stands  constantly  before  my  eyes ;  but  intervening 
heights  and  forests  in  the  distance,  and,  near  at  hand,  the 
houses  and  turrets  of  the  city  made  my  course  at  times 
uncertain,  and  I  was  obliged  frequently  to  inquire  my  way. 
The  answer  which  I  received  was  always  the  same  : 
"Immcr  hinaus  uud  hiiianf V  Keep  straight  on  and  up: 
straight  on  and  (pointing  the  finger  to  the  lofty  height 
which  hung  above  us)  right  up."  My  mind  was  full  at 
the  time  of  thoughts  of  this  great  undertaking,  and  I 
accepted  this  answer  from  the  mouth  of  the  people  as  the 
right  sort  of  motto  for  us  to  inscribe  on  our  banner : — 
"Immcr  hinaus  unci  hincnif :  Straight  forward  and  up- 
ward" Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  a  similar  voice 
addresses  itself  to  the  Christians  of  this  generation  in 
behalf  of  the  work  which  we  have  taken  up  ?  Does  not 
a  voice  call  to  them  from  the  living  millions  who  speak 
our  tongue,  and  the  millions  more  surpassing  computation, 
who  shall  speak  it  hereafter,  saying  : — "  Go  forward,  you 
are  dealing  with  a  necessary  want,  carry  out  the  labor  to 
its  proper  termination."  For  one,  I  must  say,  I  hear  that 
voice.  Let  us  accept  the  omen  and  do  what  we  can,  each 
in  his  way,  to  fulfill  the  augury. 

The  following  note  was  appended  to  the  address  : — 
It  is  because  we  are  Biblicists,  not  adherents  of  this  or 
that  ecclesiastical  organization,  of  this  or  that  school  of 
theology  named  after  men,  but  Biblicists,  a  higher  and 
more  comprehensive  term,  receivers,  as  we  would  be,  of 
God's  revealed  truth  as  the  ultimate  standard,  and  as 
important  in  all  its  teachings  and  requirements,  that  we 
are  so  anxious  to  have  the  agreement  between  the  original 


ADDRESS    ()\     BIBLE    REVISION.  IO3 

revelation  and  every  expression  of  it  as  perfect  as  possible. 
The  following  remarks,  in  a  note  to  one  of  the  sermons 
of  the  late  Archdeacon  Hare,  will  commend  themselves 
to   every   thoughtful    reader:     "The    notion    that    slight 
errors  and  defects  and  faults  are  immaterial,  and  that  we 
need   not  go  to  the  trouble  of  correcting  them,  is  one 
main  cause  why  there  are  so  many  huge  errors  and  defects 
and  faults   in   every  region   of  human   life,  practical  and 
speculative,    moral    and    political.     No   error   should    be 
deemed  slight,  which  affects  the  meaning  of  a  single  word 
in  the  Bible ;  where  so  much  weight  is  attached  to  every 
single  word;  and  where  so  many  inferences  and  conclu- 
sions are  drawn  from   the   slightest  ground,   not   merely 
those  which  find  utterance  in  books,   but   a   far  greater 
number   springing   up   in   the   minds   of  the  millions   to 
whom  our  English   Bible  is  the  code  and  canon  of  all 
truth.     For  this  reason,  errors,  even  the  least,  in  a  version 
of  the  Bible,  are  of  far  greater  moment  than  in  any  other 
book,  as  well  because  the  contents  of  the  Bible  are  of  far 
deeper  importance,  and  have  a  far  wider  influence,  as  also 
because  the  readers  of  the  Bible  are  not  only  the  educated 
and  learned,  who  can  exercise  some  sort  of  judgment  on 
what  they  read,  but  vast  multitudes  who  understand  what- 
ever they  read  according  to  the  letter.     Hence  it  is  a 
main  duty  of  the  Church  to  take  care  that  the  Version 
of  the   Scriptures,  which   it   puts   into  the   hands   of  its 
members,  shall  be  as  faultless  as  possible,  and  to  revise  it 
with  this  view  from  time  to  time,  in  order  to  attain  to  the 
utmost  accuracy  in  every  word." 

The  next  year,  i860,  the  Bible   Union  published   Dr. 
Hackett's  labors  on  the  epistle  to  Philemon.    Their  spirit 


104  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

and  aim  are  indicated  in  the  full  title  of  this  small  volume  : 
"Notes  on  the  Greek  text  of  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to 
Philemon,  as  the  basis  of  a  Revision  of  the  Common 
English  Version  ;  and  a  Revised  Version,  with  Notes." 
But  one  paragraph  of  the  preface  so  fully  exhibits  Dr. 
Hackett  in  his  views  as  a  Bible  reviser,  from  first  to  last, 
that  it  cannot  be  withheld  : — 

"There  is  much  misapprehension  still,  I  imagine,  re- 
specting the  precise  nature  of  the  enterprise,  in  the 
interest  of  which  this  volume  has  been  prepared.  The 
object  is  not  to  supersede,  but  revise  the  current  Version 
of  the  English  Scriptures.  A  new  translation  of  the 
original  text,  and  a  revision  of  the  translation  of  that  text, 
are  very  different  things ;  and  yet,,  different  as  they  are, 
are  confounded  by  many  persons  who  would  not  be  un- 
friendly to  what  is  attempted,  if  they  would  keep  in  mind 
this  important  distinction.  It  is  not  proposed  to  discard 
the  present  Version ;  to  cast  away  its  manifold  advantages ; 
to  introduce  rash  and  doubtful  innovations;  to  substitute 
a  cumbrous  Latinized  style  for  the  simple,  nervous,  idio- 
matic English,  which  brings  the  familiar  Version  so  home 
to  the  hearts  of  the  people ;  but  simply  to  do  upon  the 
work  of  our  translators  what  they  did  upon  that  of  their 
predecessors ;  to  survey  it  afresh  in  the  light  of  the  know- 
ledge which  has  been  gained  during  the  more  than  two 
centuries  since  they  passed  away ;  to  make  such  changes, 
and  such  only,  as  the  general  verdict  of  the  best  scholar- 
ship of  the  age  has  pronounced  to  be  due  to  truth  and 
fidelity ;  to  make  these  changes  in  a  style  of  delicate 
harmony  with  the  present  language  of  the  English  Bible ; 
to  confirm  its  accuracy,  where  it  is  correct,  against  false 


PATRIOTISM.  I05 

or  unsupported  interpretations,  as  well  as  to  amend  it 
where  it  is  confessedly  incorrect ;  and  thus,  in  a  word, 
carry  forward  from  our  position,  if  we  might,  the  labors 
of  the  revisers  (for  such  they  were)  of  James's  age,  as  they 
carried  forward  the  labors  of  the  generations  before  them." 
An  appendix  contains  the  celebrated  letter  of  the 
younger  Pliny  to  his  friend,  Sabinianus,  interceding  for  a 
fugitive  servant  belonging  to  the  latter,  which  it  is  inter- 
esting to  compare  with  Paul's  letter  in  behalf  of  Onesimus. 


CHAPTER     X. 

1 861-1865. 

patriotism: — in  academical  addresses; — correspond- 
ence;  PUBLICATION    OF    MEMORIAL    VOLUME; 

ADDRESS    AT    DEDICATION    OF    SOLDIERS' 
MONUMENT    IN    NEWTON. 

The  preface  to  the  revision  of  Philemon  was  dated  April 
13th,  i860.  A  year  later  (the  interval  having  embraced 
similar  labors  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians),  the  coun- 
try was  resounding  with  the  tidings  of  the  first  overt 
act  of  armed  rebellion  against  the  national  government. 
For  four  years  Dr.  Hackett  watched  with  the  intens- 
est  solicitude  every  step  of  the  contest  that  followed. 
Among  attestations  of  his  interest  were  the  farewell 
addresses,  to  graduating  classes,  which  it  fell  to  him  to 
deliver  at  Newton  during  this  period,  in  the  years  1861 
and  1865.  Some  sentences  and  paragraphs  of  the  first 
of  these  addresses  are  here  given : — 

"Your  highest   incentives  to   fidelity  you   will  derive, 


106  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

of  course,  from  the  relations  of  your  office  to  men  as 
immortal  who  have  souls  to  be  saved  or  lost,  some  of 
whom  may  be  the  crown  of  your  rejoicing  in  the  day 
of  final  account. 

"At  the  same  time,  there  are  other  and  necessarily  as- 
sociated results  of  the  minister's  work,  which  are  not  to 
be  overlooked.  To  one  of  these  I  would  turn  your  atten- 
tion now.  For  myself,  I  am  unable  even  on  this  occa- 
sion to  withdraw  my  mind  from  the  presence  of  the 
great  calamity  which  has  befallen  us  in  this  hour  of  the 
nation's  gloom  and  peril.  The  dependence  of  all  that 
we  hold  dear  and  valuable  in  our  civil  relations  on  the 
ascendency  of  Christian  influence  and  Christian  principle 
among  the  people  was  never  more  manifest  than  it  is  at 
the  present  moment.  The  sacred  order  to  which  you 
belong  exists  as  really  for  the  inculcation  of  the  social 
and  moral  principles  which  are  vital  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  commonwealth,  as  if  it  existed  solely  for  that 
end.  There  are  no  more  effective  builders  of  the  state 
than  those  who  faithfully  preach  Christ  and  him  cruci- 
fied, and  exhort  men  to  repent  and  believe  on  Him, 
and  lead  quiet  lives  in  all  godliness  and  honesty.  Their 
proper  rank,  whether  the  world  acknowledges  or  disowns 
the  claim  (which  is  of  very  little  consequence  in  itself), 
their  proper  rank  is  among  councillors  and  statesmen, 
and  patriots  and  heroes.  It  may  seem  at  times  almost 
hard  for  you  to  be  kept  back  from  the  strife  which  is 
summoning  our  brothers  and  our  sons  to  the  battle  field  ; 
but  it  may  be  the  part  of  a  higher  patriotism  to  with- 
stand the  impulse,  and  to  apply  yourselves  the  more 
earnestly  to  the  spiritual  labors  to  which  you  feel  that 


ADDRESS  TO  NEWTON  GRADUATES  OF  l86l.    IO/ 

God's  grace  and  providence  have  called  you.  Lay  your- 
selves anew  to-day  on  that  altar  without  reserve  and 
without  condition,  and  you  may  render  a  better  service 
to  your  country,  than  you  could  ever  perform  in  any 
other  way.  Those  who  remained  nearer  to  heaven  on 
the  mount  and  there  staid  up  the  hands  of  the  leader 
of  the  people,  did  as  much  to  win  the  battle  as  those 
who  fought  on  the  plain  below. 

"  Oh,  the  debt  of  gratitude  that  we  owe  to  the  noble 
men,  who  driven  from  their  country  and  homes  for  con- 
science' sake,  sought  a  refuge  in  the  wilderness  beyond 
the  sea !  Thanks  to  God,  that  ship  with  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  which  the  imprecations  of  recreant  men  that 
our  ears  have  heard,  would  have  sunk  on  her  way,  sur- 
vived the  perils  of  the  voyage ; — and  their  principles 
have  survived  and  bear  fruit  still.  I  am  persuaded  that 
if  their  spirit  had  not  been  infused  from  the  beginning 
in  a  large  measure  into  the  hearts  of  the  people — their 
love  of  liberty  and  the  right,  their  faith  in  God,  their 
readiness  to  sacrifice  life  and  everything  for  duty  and 
principle ; — if,  I  say,  the  truths  which  gave  to  them  cour- 
age and  endurance,  had  not  been  taught  from  generation 
to  generation  in  the  sanctuaries  which  they  reared,  and 
had  not  passed  thence  more  or  less  fully  into  the  national 
heart  and  character ; — without  this,  I  am  persuaded,  there 
would  have  been  no  race  of  men  among  us  to-day,  like 
those  who  at  the  call  of  their  country  rushed  forth  at 
midnight  to  the  rescue  ;  and  the  savage  eye  of  the  slave 
power  would  have  been  glaring  down  upon  us  at  this 
moment  from   the   turrets  of  the   Capital  of  the  nation. 

"  Do  not  suppose  that  the  conflict  which   has  rent  the 


I08  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

tribes  asunder  shows  that  the  teachings  of  the  fathers  in 
the  church  and  state  have  been  in  vain ;  that  the  ancient 
vigor  and  heroism  and  fear  of  God  and  nothing  else 
beside  have  died  out  among  the  children.  Oh,  no, — 
there  would  be  no  conflict  if  such  were  the  case ;  the 
struggle  itself,  because  it  is  severe,  is  the  proof  of  a  still 
existing  life  in  the  nation,  and  is,  I  firmly  believe  through 
God,  the  pledge  of  certain  victory  in  due  time  on  the 
side  of  the  right." 

Says  one  who  was  present :  "With  that  peculiar  gather- 
ing up  of  his  form  to  its  full  height  and  compactness, 
with  outstretched  arm  and  pointing  finger,  still  as  we 
write,  we  can  see  the  face,  almost  statuesque  in  its  white- 
ness and  contour,  as  the  inspiration  swept  over  his  own, 
to  thrill  all  other  hearts.  The  crowded  audience  listened 
almost  breathless." 

July  23d,  1862,  Dr.  Hackett  made  a  speech  at  a  war- 
meeting,  in  Newton.  On  the  last  day  of  the  same  month 
he  wrote  the  following  letter,  which,  after  his  death,  was 
published,  without  indication  of  its  personal  destination, 
in  the  New  York  Examiner  and  Chronicle.  It  is  under- 
stood to  have  been  addressed  to  the  Rev.  Henry  S. 
Burrage,  now  of  Portland,  Maine,  who,  as  a  private  soldier, 
then  an  officer  (36th  Mass.  Vols.),  afterwards  Acting 
Assistant  Adjutant-General  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Curtin, 
served  until  the  close  of  the  war,  and  then  returned  to 
Newton  and  completed  his  studies. 

NewTON  Centre,  July  31,   1862. 

My  Dear  Friend  and  Pupil : — I  was  absent  when  your 
letter  arrived,  or  I  should  have  replied  sooner.  I  judge 
from  the  posture  of  your  mind  that  you  are  anxious  to 


LETTER    TO    THE    REV.    HENRY    S.    BURRAGE.  IO9 

know  whether,  if,  in  this  hour  of  the  nation's  peril,  you 
should  regard  it  as  your  duty  to  offer  yourself  for  the 
war,  the  step  would  be  approved  by  those  of  your  friends 
whose  opinions  you  value.  I  am  pleased  that  you  reckon 
me  among  those  whom  you  esteem  worthy  of  consulting 
on  such  a  question.  Your  letter  has  affected  me  deeply. 
I  hope  you  do  not  need  to  be  assured  of  the  personal 
interest  that  I  feel  in  you,  of  my  sincere  regard  for  you, 
and  of  the  hopes  which  I  have  been  led  to  form  of  your 
future  success  and  usefulness.  I  am  incapable  of  utter- 
ing lightly  any  word  that  may  have  any  influence  in 
deciding  your  mind,  in  a  case  where  so  many  interests 
relating  to  yourself  and  others  are  to  be  affected.  I  feel 
that  the  subject  is  one,  that,  after  all,  must  be  left  chiefly 
with  your  own  feelings  and  sense  of  duty.  I  agree  per- 
fectly with  you  that  the  hour  is  full  of  peril  to  the 
existence  of  the  government,  and  that  the  future  des- 
tiny of  this  continent,  and  of  millions  upon  millions  of 
human  beings,  depends  upon  what  the  people  of  these 
free  States  do,  or  neglect  to  do,  within  a  very  few  days. 
I  have  lately,  again  and  again,  brought  this  very  ques- 
tion which  you  propose  to  me  home  to  myself;  and  I 
have  said,  after  rigid  self-scrutiny,  that  if  I  had  a  son 
whom  the  military  requisitions  would  accept  and  he 
felt  that  it  was  his  duty  to  lay  himself  now  upon  the 
altar  of  his  country's  service,  I  should  not  dare  to  lay 
any  obstacle  in  his  way.  I  could  not  reconcile  it  with 
any  just  spirit  of  patriotism  or  disinterestedness  to  hold 
him  back  from  a  cause  which  unites  in  its  support  every 
plea  that  can  address  itself  to  the  patriot,  the  philan- 
thropist   and    the    Christian.      If   your  inclinations    and 


HO  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

your  views  of  duty  dispose  you  to  devote  yourself  to 
this  exalted  work — if  you  cannot  otherwise  satisfy  your 
conscience,  much  as  I  love  you,  and  anxious  as  I  must 
be  for  your  welfare,  I  answer  Go,  and  may  the  blessing 
of  God  attend  you  and  preserve  you,  and  his  Spirit 
breathe  into  your  heart  courage,  and  fill  you  at  all  times 
with  the  consciousness  of  seeking  his  glory  in  endeavor- 
ing to  put  clown  this  wicked  conspiracy  against  the  rights 
of  self-government  and  human  liberty,  and  the  progress 
of  Christ's  kingdom  as  one  of  religious  freedom  and 
impartial  justice  to  all  mankind. 

Whatever  may  be  your  decision,  I  shall  preserve  your 
letter  as  a  delightful  memento  of  the  true  spirit  of  a 
Christian  soldier  and  patriot.  I  will  hope  and  pray 
you  may  be  guided  right,  and  that  you  may  be  preserved 
to  enter  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  and  in  its  more 
peaceful  labors  fulfill  the  hopes  which  you  have  so  long 
entertained. 

Yours,  with  much  affection, 

H.  B.  Hackett. 

On  the  evening  of  October  15th,  1862,  Dr.  Hackett 
addressed  the  students  of  the  Institution,  premising  that 
for  twenty  years  he  had  not  spoken  to  the  students 
upon  a  purely  political  subject,  and  that  yet,  though  in 
the  pursuits  of  a  scholar,  he  was  mindful  of  the  motto, 
"  Homo  sum  ;  humani  nihil  a  me  alienum puto" 

Referring  to  the  formation  of  the  Constitution,  as  bad 
in  a  single  unfortunate  concession,  he  said,  "  Under  the 
operation  of  God's  laws,  our  national  sins  have  become 
our  inhuman  oppressors."      Lincoln's  Declaration  of  pro- 


CHRISTIAN     .MEMORIALS    OF    THE    WAR.  Ill 

spective  Emancipation  had  been  before  the  country  three 
weeks,  and  the  question  was  whether  the  people  would 
stand  by  the  President.  "  We  can  almost  see  God  stand- 
ing before  the  nation  saying :  '  Do  what  is  right — accom- 
plish your  destiny,  or  be  deaf  to  this  voice,  follow  the 
suggestions  of  a  timid  policy,  and  be  dashed  to  pieces 
as  a  potter's  vessel  unfit  for  use.'  " 

After  eloquent  utterances,  some  of  which  will  be  found 
in  the  tribute  of  the  Rev.  Granville  S.  Abbott,  who  pub- 
lished an  account  of  them  at  the  time,  Dr.  Hackett  closed 
with  the  words :  "  May  the  blessings  of  the  ages  to  come 
fall  on  us,  and  not  the  maledictions  clue  to  those  who 
discern  not  the  signs  of  these  times  ! " 

Another  significant  witness  of  his  sympathies  is  the 
only  volume  which  Dr.  Hackett  gave  to  the  public 
during  these  eventful  years.  It  is  entitled:  "Christian 
Memorials  of  the  War:  or  Scenes  and  Incidents  illus- 
trative of  Religious  Faith  and  Principle,  Patriotism  and 
Bravery,  in  our  Army.  With  Historical  Notes."  In 
the  preface,  dated  March  18th,  1864,  he  says:  "I  have 
put  these  materials  together  in  this  manner  because  I 
thought  it  might  be  a  grateful  service  to  the  friends  of 
our  brave  soldiers,  as  well  as  an  act  of  justice  to  the 
soldiers  themselves,  and  because  I  felt  a  hearty  interest 
in  the  work." 

"We  reach,"  says  a  notice,  "the  high  level  of  our 
Christian  patriotism  in  this  volume.  The  editor  has 
culled  these  choice  fragments  from  a  vast  amount  of 
similar  material.  He  has  done  his  task  with  a  faultless 
judgment,  and  a  warm  sympathy  with  the  records  which 
it  perpetuates." 


I  I  2  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

The  publishers  of  the  book  subsequently  recovered 
damages  for  a  piratical  infringement  upon  its  contents, 
in  a  volume  called  "The  Nurse  and  Spy." 

The  most  elaborate  literary  memorial  of  Dr.  Hackett's 
patriotism  at  this  epoch  is  an  oratorical  effort  at  the 
dedication  of  the  Soldiers'  Monument  in  Newton,  July 
23d,  1864,  on  which  occasion  he  was  invited  to  deliver 
the  address  which  the  ceremonies  included.  It  is  re- 
printed here  from  the  now  rare  pamphlet  which  details 
them. 

ADDRESS. 

I  have  supposed  that  I  should  be  acting  most  in  har- 
mony with  the  spirit  of  this  service,  if  I  connect  the 
remarks  which  I  offer  more  especially  with  the  memory 
of  those  whom  we  are  met  here  to  commemorate,  and 
the  reasons  that  we  have  for  regarding  the  sacrifice  of 
their  lives,  costly  as  it  is,  as  incurred  for  objects  which 
justify  and  ennoble  the  sacrifice.  We  have  come  here  for 
an  earnest  purpose.  We  desire,  by  an  impressive  act,  to 
declare  our  sense  of  the  services  and  claims  of  the  men 
who  have  represented  us  in  the  camp  and  on  the  battle- 
field, as  defenders  of  our  rights,  as  champions  of  the 
nation's  honor  and  safety,  and  who  have  sealed  their 
fidelity  to  this  high  trust,  by  giving  up  their  lives  for  us 
and  our  common  country.  Let  it  be  remembered,  too, 
that  there  are  mourners  among  us  here  to-day — fathers 
and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters,  widows  and  orphans, — 
whose  hearts  bleed  afresh  at  the  sight  of  the  mournful 
emblems  around  us.  If  words  may  be  spoken  that  can 
alleviate  their  sorrow,  and  lead  them  to  reflect  anew  on 


ADDRESS   AT   DEDICATION   OF   SOLDIERS    MONUMENT.      I  1 3 

the  manner  in  which  the  sacrifices  they  have  been  called 
to  make  are  helping  to  accomplish  the  great  ends  of  the 
national  struggle,  it  becomes  us  to  utter  such  words,  to 
suggest  such  thoughts. 

As  to  my  own  part  in  these  proceedings,  I  need  not,  I 
hope,  be  anxious.  You  require  nothing  of  me,  on  this 
occasion,  I  am  sure,  beyond  the  performance  of  an  act 
of  good  will, — the  offering  with  you  and  for  you,  of  a 
sincere,  heartfelt  tribute — that  I  can  bring — to  the  dear 
memory  of  the  patriots,  in  honor  of  wThom  the  citizens  of 
the  town  have  set  apart  this  sacred  enclosure  and  erected 
this  monument,  in  this  sleeping-place  of  the  dead. 

The  chairman  has  recounted  to  us  the  names  of  those 
who  have  entered  into  the  military  service  of  the  country 
from  Newton,  since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  have 
died  in  this  service.  They  are  more  than  forty  in  number, 
and  constitute  our  martyr-roll,  as  made  up  to  the  present 
hour.  Among  these  names  you  recognize  some  which 
are  among  the  names  best  known  and  honored  in  the 
records  of  this  ancient  town.  It  may  confidently  be 
said — the  remark  applies  to  our  soldiers  living  as  well  as 
dead — that,  as  a  class,  they  represent  the  public  spirit,  the 
enterprise,  the  intelligence,  the  personal  worth  and  social 
standing  of  our  people,  as  honorably  to  us  as  any  equal 
number  of  men  to  whom  that  office  could  have  fallen. 
Among;  them  are  the  names  of  some,  who,  though  not 
born  among  us,  had  adopted  our  country  as  their  country, 
and  were  willing  to  perform  the  duties  as  well  as  enjoy 
the  privileges  of  American  citizenship. 

It  will  occur,  also,  to  those  of  you  who  remember  the 
circumstances  under  which   our  soldiers  have  died,  that 
9 


114  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

the  manner  of  their  death  illustrates  all  the  common 
hazards  and  vicissitudes  of  war.  Some  perished  by- 
casualty,  in  an  unexpected  way.  Some  contracted  disease, 
and  after  suffering  for  weeks  or  months,  laid  down  life's 
weary  burden  in  tents  and  hospitals.  Some  fell  in  the 
shock  of  battle  itself,  with  victory  almost  in  their  grasp ; 
and  others  were  brought  back  from  the  field,  death- 
stricken,  to  languish  a  while  under  the  pain  of  torturing 
wounds,  and  then  pass  away.  It  was  the  privilege  of 
some  to  have  with  them  the  presence  of  friends  to  cheer 
their  last  hours,  and  to  receive  from  their  lips  messages  of 
remembrance  and  love  to  those  in  their  New  England 
homes  whom  they  should  see  no  more ;  and  others  must 
die  where  they  could  receive  only  a  stranger's  sympathy 
and  be  laid  in  graves  far  away  from  the  homesteads  in 
which  life's  young  morning  opened  on  them. 

But  much  as  our  departed  friends  may  have  differed 
in  such  incidental  ways,  they  were  alike  in  this : — they 
were  all  animated  by  the  same  generous,  patriotic  spirit ; 
they  all  sprung  forth  at  the  call  of  their  country,  in  the 
hour  of  her  distress ;  they  all  earned  that  epitaph  which 
you  read  on  yonder  tablet — "Pro  patriot,  mortui  sunt;" 
they  all  gave,  each  one,  all  that  men  can  give — life  itself 
— for  their  country ;  and  they  all  equally  deserve,  and 
shall  equally  receive,  the  gratitude  of  every  American 
heart,  and  the  wreath  of  immortal  fame. 

The  monument  which  records  their  names,  is  to  be  the 
chief  object  of  interest  in  this  cemetery,  in  all  future 
time.  It  shall  not  only,  by  its  position,  engage  the  first 
attention  of  those  who  enter  here,  but  be  remembered  by 
them  as  they  go  hence,  last  and  longest.     No  tombs  will 


ADDRESS  AT   DEDICATION  OF  SOLDIERS'  MONUMENT.    I  I  5 

ever  be  built  here,  on  which  wealth  or  art  can  lavish  such 
attractions  as  to  chaw  aside  the  feet  of  men,  to  the  neglect 
of  this  unadorned  structure.  Fathers  will  pause  at  the 
base  of  this  column,  and  relate  its  history  to  their  chil- 
dren. It  will  be  told  here,  who  these  patriots  were ;  what 
sufferings  they  underwent  in  their  day  and  generation,  to 
make  this  land  an  abode  of  peace,  happiness,  and  liberty, 
to  those  who  should  live  after  them  ;  what  principles  they 
upheld  in  life  and  in  death  ;  and  what  lessons  should  be 
drawn  from  their  example  by  those  who  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  their  patriotism  and  self-denial.  The  mute  instructor, 
which  stands  here  before  us,  will  pour  such  teachings  on 
the  ear  of  generations  yet  unborn.  The  benedictions  of 
a  grateful  posterity  will  rest  on  the  memory  of  our  heroes, 
and  keep  it  fresh  forever. 

"  How  sleep  the   brave,  who  sink  to  rest, 
By  all   their  country's  wishes   blest  ! 
When   Spring  with  dewy  fingers  cold 
Returns  to  deck  their  hallowed  mould, 
She  there  shall  dress  a  sweeter  sod 
Than   Fancy's  feet  have  ever  trod. 

By  fairy  hands  their  knell  is  rung, 
By  forms  unseen  their  dirge  is  sung; 
There  Honor  comes,  a  pilgrim  gray, 
To  bless  the  turf  that  wraps   their  clay; 
And  Freedom  shall  awhile  repair 
To  dwell  a  weeping  hermit  there." 

Then  farewell  to  them,  henceforth,  as  to  their  living- 

o 

presence  among  us ;    but  hail  to  them  as  they  ascend  to 
take  their  places  among  the  unseen  influences  which  are 


I  1 6  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

to  pervade  our  history,  and  mould  the  national  spirit  in 
all  time  to  come. 

From  these  more  strictly  commemorative  remarks,  I 
proceed  to  glance,  in  a  hurried  manner  it  must  be,  at  two 
or  three  considerations  of  a  general  character. 

Here  we  are,  on  this  mid-summer  day,  almost  in  the 
middle  of  the  fourth  year  of  this  terrible  civil  war,  which 
has  deluged  the  land  with  blood,  has  brought  bereave- 
ment and  sorrow  into  thousands  and  thousands  of  happy 
homes,  has  thrown  into  disorder  the  nation's  finances, 
and  hangs  over  us  still  as  a  cloud  which  has  not  yet  dis- 
charged upon  us  all  its  violence  and  fury.  Our  flag  may 
have  risen  high  enough,  it  has  risen  high  enough  to  show 
which  way  its  folds  point ;  but  we  are  not  at  the  end  yet. 
Battles  are  still  to  be  fought.  Hopes  and  fears  are  to 
agitate  the  public  mind.  Other  victims  must  be  laid  on 
the  altar.  The  voice  of  sorrow  must  be  heard  in  dwell- 
ings which  the  destroyer  has  passed  by  hitherto.  Our 
burdens  of  taxation  may  be  increased  an  hundred  fold. 
We  would  hope  for  things  less  grievous ;  but  perhaps 
before  we  reestablish  our  government  throughout  the 
entire  land,  it  may  be  found  that  we  have  as  yet  dipped 
our  feet  only  into  the  brink  of  the  waters,  which  are  to 
surge  and  dash  around  us,  till  we  see  their  lowest  depths. 

Contemplating  such  a  possible  future,  and  in  view  of 
such  a  past  as  we  have  had  already,  the  question  is  forced 
upon  us,  to  which  I  adverted  at  the  beginning :  Do  the 
objects  at  stake  in  this  war  require  and  justify  all  this 
cost/  In  giving  a  brief  answer  to  this  question,  I 
prefer  to  mention  moral  reasons  rather  than  political, 
though  I  confess  the  line  which  separates  them  is  a  nar- 


ADDRESS  AT  DEDICATION   OF  SOLDIERS    MONUMENT.       I  I  7 

row  one,  and  though  I  may  lose  the  advantage  of  giving 
the  answer  to  the  question  which  many  might  consider 
the  most  decisive. 

I  believe  fully,  earnestly  believe,  in  the  accountability 
of  one  age  to  another,  of  one  generation  of  men  to 
other  and  subsequent  generations.  Out  of  this  principle 
springs  an  obligation  resting  on  us,  to  pursue  this  war 
to  its  proper  end,  as  strong  as  ever  rested  on  any  people, 
summoned  to  a  great  crisis  in  their  affairs.  It  is  a  social 
law  of  the  utmost  significance,  and  one  that  has  the 
highest  of  all  sanctions,  that  men  live  not,  men  die  not, 
unto  themselves ;  their  actions  in  one  period  stretch 
onward,  and  affect  the  condition  of  others,  for  pfood  or 
evil,  through  all  time.  Our  fathers,  in  the  conflict  of  the 
Revolution,  met  that  responsibility  in  their  day  ;  and,  as 
a  consequence,  established  for  us  this  government,  under 
which,  until  the  hand  of  parricides  was  lifted  up  against 
it,  we  enjoyed  a  prosperity  which  had  no  parallel  in  the 
world,  and  was  actually  the  world's  envy ;  and  yet  the 
reasons  for  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  they 
persevered  twice  as  long  as  we  have  been  struggling 
now,  were  utterly  trifling  compared  with  those  which 
demand  of  us  energy  and  self-denial  to  maintain  this 
fabric  of  government  and  hand  it  down  to  those  after 
us.  Observe  the  nature  of  the  trust  committed  by  them 
to  us.  They  put  this  government  into  our  custody,  to 
keep,  not  for  one  part  of  the  country,  but  for  every 
part ;  not  for  New  England  alone,  but  the  West  also  ; 
and  not  for  the  East  and  West  alone,  but  for  the  South 
as  well  as  the  North,  and  for  the  South  just  as  much  and 
as  distinctly  as  for  the  North.     As  parties,  therefore,  to 


I  1 8  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

this  compact,  we  who  are  living  now  have  no  more  right 
to  consent  to  the  destruction  of  the  government  at  the 
South  than  at  the  North  ;  and  the  man,  in  this  point  of 
view,  who  is  willing  to  see  the  flag  of  his  country  trodden 
in  the  dust  on  the  soil  of  South  Carolina,  is  just  as  false 
to  his  obligations  as  the  man  who  would  stand  by  and 
see  it  dishonored  on  the  soil  of  Massachusetts. 

Nor  is  this  all.  This  compact,  in  its  moral  implications 
as  well  as  political,  meant,  that  the  government  should  be 
permanent  as  well  as  universal.  It  was  won  at  such 
cost  and  put  in  operation,  not  for  the  inhabitants  of  this 
land  merely  who  should  live  between  1776  and  1S61,  but 
for  all  throughout  this  vast  domain,  who  should  ever 
come  forward  here  to  breathe  the  breath  of  life  and  be 
capable  of  enjoying  the  blessings  of  self-government  and 
national  security.  Mark,  then,  the  solemnity  of  our 
position.  These  blessings,  in  order  to  reach  their  desti- 
nation, must  flow  through  our  hands.  We  stand  in  the 
exact  and  only  line  of  transmission  through  which  they 
can  be  carried  along  the  track  of  time  to  the  millions 
unborn,  whose  condition  is  to  depend  on  what  we  do  or 
fail  to  do.  If,  then,  these  blessings  are  stayed  in  their 
course,  at  the  precise  moment  when  the  responsibility  for 
their  preservation  is  laid  on  our  shoulders,  do  we  not 
incur  the  reproaches  of  those  who  shall  follow  us  as  well 
as  of  those  who  were  before  us  ?  We  do,  undeniably  ; 
for,  by  the  same  unfaithful  act,  we  frustrate  the  work  of 
our  fathers,  and  we  rob  their  descendants  of  the  heritage 
which  was  theirs. 

Nor  are  we  at  liberty  to  forget  the  relations  which  we 
sustain  to  other  peoples.     Providence  has  put  it  into  our 


ADDRESS  AT  DEDICATION  OF  SOLDIERS    MONUMENT.      II9 

power,  if  we  arc  true  to  His  orderings,  to  become  the 
benefactors  of  mankind  on  a  scale  of  grandeur  unex- 
ampled heretofore  ;  not  by  any  open  crusade  for  the  rights 
of  man,  but  by  the  silent  operation  of  our  example,  and 
the  opening  of  a  refuge  here  for  the  oppressed,  of  every 
clime  and  color,  who  would  secure  a  better  condition  for 
themselves  and  their  children.  Oh,  how  often  in  the 
fairest  portions  of  Europe,  as  I  have  seen  the  poverty  and 
misery,  the  ignorance  and  degradation  of  the  masses  of 
my  fellow-men,  rendered  not  less  but  more  painful  by 
contrast  with  the  brilliant  civilization,  wealth,  and  luxury, 
of  the  favored  few — as  I  have  turned  my  eye  from  these 
sights  to  the  happy  spectacle  here  at  home — how  often 
and  earnestly  have  I  thanked  God  that  he  put  it  into  the 
hearts  of  our  ancestors  to  come  here  and  inaugurate  a 
new  type  of  civil  polity  on  these  shores  ! 

Recollect  that  the  governments  of  the  earth,  be  it  as  it 
may  with  the  people,  the  governments  which  exist  so 
extensively  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  administer  them, 
are  not  with  us,  but  against  us.  This  is  a  trite  theme,  I 
know ;  but  do  not  the  revelations  of  every  hour  bring  it 
before  us  with  new  and  startling  vividness  ?  Whence  is 
it  that  the  organs  of  public  intelligence  which  speak  for 
the  monarchists  of  the  old  world,  hold  up  to  admiration 
the  murders  and  piracies  of  a  buccaneer,  who  burns  and 
sinks  peaceful  ships  of  commerce,  but  skulks  from  sea  to 
sea  or  runs  into  neutral  ports  to  escape  an  armed  foe; 
and,  when  at  length  the  waters  close  over  the  guilty 
career  of  the  pirate,  lament  it  as  an  event  which  excites 
regret  throughout  kingdoms  and  empires,  and  treat  it 
almost  as  an  affront  to  be  avenged  ?     Ah,  I  see  in  that 


120  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

spirit  evidence  which  no  fact  could  express  with  greater 
energy,  that  my  country's  government  is  the  people's 
government  as  distinguished  from  that  of  the  rulers ;  and, 
while  it  would  degrade  none,  would  place  all  on  a  juster 
level  in  their  political  rights  and  means  of  personal  hap- 
piness. It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  as  is  so  often  said, 
that  the  triumph  of  despotism  would  be  complete 
throughout  the  earth,  that  the  cause  of  republican  liberty 
would  be  lost  for  all  men,  and  every  where,  if  it  be  lost 
here  and  by  us. 

On  the  issue  of  this  war,  too,  hangs  suspended  the 
destiny  of  three  or  four  millions  of  human  beings  among 
ourselves,  and  of  the  long  line  of  their  descendants, 
through  an  indefinite  future.  A  wonder-working  Provi- 
dence, as  we  may  well  call  it,  has  made  it  dependent  on 
the  success  of  our  arms,  whether  they  shall  be  free  or  left 
in  hopeless  bondage  ;  whether  the  promised  boon  in  their 
behalf  shall  prove  a  reality,  or  a  delusion  and  mockery  of 
their  hopes. 

If,  then,  being  men,  we  are  not  ashamed  to  own  that 

nothing  human  is  or  should  be  alien  to  us,  that  we  are 

bound  to  our  race  by  ties  which  we  cannot  and  would 

not  sever,  do  not  such  relations  make  it  incumbent  on  us 

to  defend  a  government    which    has    such    bearings    on 

human   welfare,  at   all   hazards,   against   all   assailants  at 

home  and  abroad  ?     And,  if  it  be  true,  that 

"  The  fittest  place  for  man  to  die 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man," 

then  do  not  our  sons  and  brothers,  who  fall  in  behalf  of 
such  a  cause,  add  to  their  title  as  patriots,  that,  also,  of 
friends  of  their  race  ? 


ADDRESS   AT   DEDICATION   OF  SOLDIERS    MONUMENT.       121 

If  you  would  find  reasons  why  this  rebellion  should 
array  against  itself  all  the  moral  instincts  of  the  human 
soul,  think,  I  pray  you, — of  a  thousand  things,  1  had 
almost  said,  which,  for  brevity's  sake,  I  can  only  indi- 
cate. Think,  for  example,  of  the  pitiful  pretense  that  the 
government  was  oppressive,  though  administered  in  fact 
during  almost  the  entire  period  of  its  existence  by  the 
very  class  of  men  who  are  now  in  arms  against  it ;  think 
of  the  perjury  of  such  leaders  among  them  as  Davis  and 
Breckenridge,  who  as  senators  could  stand  up  before  the 
nation,  and  with  an  appeal  to  the  heart-searching  God, 
swear  that  they  would  maintain  the  union  of  these  States 
inviolate,  though  in  secret  they  had  already  pledged  those 
same  perjured  right  hands  to  each  other  for  the  over- 
throw of  the  Union  ;  and,  of  that  conduct,  not  unlike 
this,  of  the  commander  of  their  armies  who  betrayed  no 
consciousness  of  self-degradation  in  being  willing  to  loiter 
at  Washington,  week  after  week,  and  month  after  month, 
in  order,  before  his  own  open  defection,  to  find  out  the 
military  secrets  of  the  government,  for  the  benefit  of  his 
accomplices,  though  as  much  a  traitor  then  as  we  know 
him  to  be  now,  when  we  see  his  blood-stained  sword 
flashing  before  our  eyes ;  think  of  the  clandestine  transfer 
to  their  territory,  of  guns  and  munitions  of  war  from  our 
forts  and  arsenals,  to  which  their  agents,  put  into  office  by 
our  votes,  had  the  key ;  think  of  the  attempt  to  slay  the 
President  elect,  on  his  way  to  the  capital,  by  a  band  of 
hired  assassins  ;  think  of  the  massacre  of  men  and  women 
on  the  mountains  of  East  Tennessee,  because  they  wished 
to  live  and  die  under  the  flag  of  their  country ;  think  of 
the  butchery  of  disarmed,  helpless  prisoners,  for  no  other 


122  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

crime  than  that  of  preferring  to  be  free  rather  than 
slaves ;  and,  above  all,  think  of  the  object  of  all  this 
aggravated  treason,  avowed  and  boasted  of  by  its  abet- 
tors—  the  establishing  of  a  great  slave  empire,  which, 
being  established,  must  inevitably  give  law  to  the  Amer- 
ican continent.  Do  not  such  men  deserve  the  terrible 
name,  which  it  makes  the  soul  shudder  to  think  of — 
enemies  of  mankind !  Was  there  ever  a  great  national 
movement,  having  for  its  object  a  purpose  so  wicked, 
which  subsidized  so  many  subordinate  villanies  for  its 
accomplishment  ?  And  was  there  ever  any  emergency 
in  any  people's  history  which  called  like  our  own,  upon 
all  that  is  manly  and  noble  in  human  nature,  to  stand  up 
and  declare,  with  vehement  protest  before  the  universe, 
the  scheme  shall  not  be  consummated  ? 

If  any  would  judge  whether  we  have  a  cause  that  is 
worth  suffering  for  and  dying  for,  let  them  think  of  the 
condition  in  which  we  should  be  if  we  fail  to  crush  this 
rebellion  and  save  the  republic.  There  can  be  no  com- 
promise ;  it  has  been  tried  again  and  again,  and  to  no 
purpose.  How  can  this  word  of  delusion  be  any  longer 
on  any  man's  lips  ?  Does  any  one  really  think  that  the 
rebels  are  fighting  for  a  compromise?  If  any  person 
supposes  that,  he  must  have  extraordinary  ideas  of  the 
nature  of  a  compromise.  Compromise  !  of  what  ?  They 
had  the  same  privileges  under  the  common  government 
that  we  had,  and  by  their  own  confession  more  than  we 
had ;  and  they  were  assured  after  they  began  their  work 
of  anarchy  that  they  should  have  them  still,  if  they  would 
lay  down  their  arms  and  spare  the  government.  They 
spurned  the  offer,  because  they  were  aiming,  it  is  evident, 


ADDRESS  AT  DEDICATION  OF  SOLDIERS    MONUMENT.       I  23 

at  something  beyond  compromise, —  at  something  which 
nothing  but  the  destruction  of  the  government  could 
give  them.  The  insurgents  deserve,  at  least,  the  credit  of 
this  sincerity:  —  they  have  put  their  intentions  before 
us,  without  equivocation  or  ambiguity ;  and  if  any  one 
among  us  is  deceived,  it  cannot  be  because  any  artifice  on 
their  part  has  deceived  him. 

Every  day,  by  words  and  by  deeds,  they  thrust  back 
upon  us  this  idea  of  compromise,  with  scornful  defiance. 
"No,"  they  say,  "we  mean  to  bring  you,  by  force  of  arms, 
to  our  terms — surrender  of  your  capital,  destruction  of 
your  nationality,  boundaries  that  will  give  to  us  all  the 
slave-states,  the  conqueror's  share  of  the  common  territory 
and  navy,  indemnification  for  losses  and  expenses,  the 
comity  of  crossing  your  borders  for  slave-hunting,  and 
the  right  to  adjust,  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  all  ques- 
tions that  may  grow  out  of  that  delicate  diplomacy ; — we 
mean  to  fight  till  we  bring  you  to  these  terms,  or  till  you, 
by  force  of  arms,  take  from  us  the  power  to  enforce  such 
terms."  This  is  explicit,  and  ought  to  be  understood.  Is 
it  compromise  ?  Or  the  subversion  of  the  national  sov- 
ereignty and  independence  ?  The  alternative  plainly  is 
that  we  must  conquer  or  be  enslaved.  Give  to  them, 
after  being  separated  from  us,  if  that  were  possible,  a 
respite  of  twenty  years  or  less,  for  recuperation  and  prep- 
aration, and  the  apathy  on  our  part  which  would  enable 
them  to  gain  that  respite,  would  enable  them,  if  not  by 
renewed  and  successful  war,  yet  by  means  of  their  political 
ascendency  and  the  influence  of  southernizing  commercial 
treaties  which  we  should  be  led  to  form  with  them,  to  put 
the  heel  of  their  power  on  our  necks  as  their  vassals  in 


124  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

effect,  if  not  in  name.  I  repeat  it — we  must  conquer  or 
be  enslaved.  This  war  is  a  war  for  the  freedom  of  the 
white  race  as  well  as  of  the  blacks. 

Shall  we  complain  of  the  taxes  ?  It  cannot  be  said 
that  they  are  severe  as  yet,  compared  with  those  to  which 
nations  are  accustomed  to  submit  in  time  of  war.  But 
look  at  the  other  side.  Suppose  two  nations,  such  as  the 
people  of  the  North  and  South  would  form,  were  existing 
here,  side  by  side.  Who  is  to  pay  for  the  immense  stand- 
ing army,  on  which  you  would  rely,  though  with  vain 
reliance,  for  the  maintenance  of  peace  between  two  such 
nations  ?  Who  is  to  pay  for  the  fortifications,  which 
would  bristle  in  every  port  and  on  every  headland,  and 
stretch  across  the  continent  from  the  Pacific  to  the 
Atlantic  ?  At  whose  expense  are  those  interminable 
border  wars  to  be  waged,  which  would  be  inevitable 
betwTeen  powers  separated  by  so  many  clashing  interests, 
and  embittered  toward  each  other  by  the  memory  of  the 
hostility  of  these  days  ?  If  a  single  Alabama  can  make 
such  havoc  of  our  commerce,  what  must  be  the  fate  of 
that  commerce  if  exposed  to  the  depredations  of  a  whole 
fleet  of  such  scourges  of  the  ocean  ?  Is  a  civil  war,  which 
has  continued  only  three  or  four  years,  so  oppressive  ? 
And  what  then  must  be  a  perpetual  civil  war  ?  Nay,  if 
it  be  written  in  the  book  of  fate,  I  should  say  rather,  in 
that  of  our  own  degeneracy,  that  we  must  succumb,  then 
it  is  already  true  as  a  virtually  existing  fact,  that  heavier 
mortgages  to  the  Southern  Confederacy  lie  at  this  moment 
on  the  ships  which  sail  out  of  Boston  harbor  and  on  these 
broad  acres  around  us  which  men  cultivate  who  call 
themselves  free,  than  would  be  required  during  centuries 


ADDRESS  AT   DEDICATION   OF  SOLDIERS    MONUMENT.      125 

for  the  liquidation  of  the  present  war  debt,  though  that 
were  increased  ten  thousand  times. 

Our  soldiers  fight  and  fall,  bleed  and  die,  to  save  us 
and  our  posterity  from  this  state  of  things.  It  is  a  costly 
sacrifice  ;  hut  is  it  not  for  worthy  ends  ?  No  human  eye, 
it  is  true,  can  penetrate  all  the  future.  But  of  this  we 
may  be  certain,  that  nothing  half  so  fearful  can  lie  before 
us  if  we  go  forward  in  the  path  of  duty  and  patriotism, 
as  awaits  us  inevitably  if  we  go  back  or  stop  here  ;  and 
nothing  remains  for  us,  therefore,  if  we  have  any  man- 
hood in  us,  but,  with  God's  blessing,  to  "  fight  it  out  on 
this  line  "  of  duty  and  patriotism,  as  long  as  there  is  a  shot 
left  in  the  locker. 

There  was  a  legend  in  the  old  Greek  history,  connected 
with  the  battle  of  Marathon,  which  arose,  perhaps,  from 
a  popular  superstition,  but  which,  like  so  many  of  the 
imaginations  of  that  ingenious  people,  was  fraught  with 
truth,  and  might  have  been  invented  by  the  wisest  sages, 
with  credit  to  their  sagacity.  It  is  full  of  meaning  and 
instructive  for  us.  An  amphitheatre  of  hills  looks  down 
on  the  plain  where  the  Persian  horde  was  trampled  in  the 
dust  by  Grecian  valor,  and  the  tide  of  Asiatic  despotism 
and  barbarism  was  rolled  back  from  the  shores  of  Europe. 
The  surges  of  the  sea  on  which  the  ships  of  the  invaders 
rode  so  proudly,  may  be  heard,  breaking  at  the  foot  of 
these  hills,  and  at  a  little  distance  from  the  shore,  may  be 
seen  still  the  hillock  beneath  which  the  bones  of  the 
Athenian  conquerors  were  buried.  The  Greeks,  now, 
believed  that  this  great  battle  was  continually  reenacted 
on  this  memorable  spot.  They  believed  that  as  they 
stood  at  night  on  these  hills,  they  could  see  through  the 


126  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

mists  the  forms  of  warriors  moving  across  the  plain,  and 
could  hear  the  clash  of  armor,  paeans  of  victory  from  their 
countrymen,  and  cries  of  despair  from  the  vanquished. 
Of  the  value  of  this  susceptibility  of  the  Greek  mind, 
who  can  doubt  ?  It  was  worth  more,  infinitely,  to  that 
world-conquering  race,  than  city  walls,  than  bulwarks, 
than  navies.  It  was  a  power  in  their  history  ever  present, 
which  kept  alive  the  spirit  of  heroism,  and  nerved  them 
for  other  conflicts  and  victories. 

Not  unlike  this,  except  more  beneficent,  more  efficient, 
shall  be  the  remembrance  of  these  days  to  our  children 
and  children's  children.  Our  battles,  too,  shall  be  re- 
fought  ;  the  voices  heard  in  them  shall  never  cease  to 
speak  to  us.  Mysterious  as  it  may  seem  to  our  finite 
comprehension,  yet  how  often  has  it  been  shown  to  be 
sublimely  true  — 

"God's  most  dreaded  instrument 
In  working  out  a  pure  intent 
Is  man  arrayed  for  mutual  slaughter." 

.No  nation  can  be  truly  great  or  exist  long,  without  a 
history  which  has  in  it  soul  and  inspiration.  Account  for 
it  as  you  may,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  had  nearly 
outlived  our  history.  The  old  examples,  perhaps  because 
we  had  drifted  away  so  insensibly  from  the  principles 
which  they  sanctioned,  were  losing  their  influence  over  us 
more  and  more.  The  time  had  come  when  some  new 
shock,  a  fiercer  discipline,  was  needed,  to  bring  out  and 
strengthen  the  nation's  character.  It  is  true  of  national 
blessings  as  of  individual,  that  we  must  learn  to  value 
them  by  knowing  what  it  is  to  labor  for  them  and  make 


ADDRESS  AT  DEDICATION  OF  SOLDIERS    MONUMENT.       12J 

sacrifices  for  them.  A  people  whom  the  great  Ruler  of 
nations  would  have  live  and  not  perish,  must  be  brought 
back  to  this  experience  as  often  as  they  are  in  danger  of 
forgetting  the  steps  by  which  they  became  great  and 
prosperous.  We  are  passing  through  the  trials  which 
shall  perform  for  us  that  salutary  work. 

Out  of  this  war  shall  arise  a  juster  estimate  of  the  tran- 
scendent privileges  of  our  American  form  of  government. 
We  are  indebted  to  it  already  for  illustrations  of  a  true 
public  spirit  as  noble,  as  elevating  as  the  world  ever  saw. 
We  are  gathering  up  from  it  every  day  the  materials  of 
the  richest  heritage  that  one  age  can  transmit  to  another. 
Our  lost  history  shall  be  restored  to  us.  Examples  of 
genuine  Christian  patriotism  and  heroism  have  appeared 
during  this  struggle,  worthy  of  perpetual  record, — 
examples  of  fealty  to  principle  which  holds  everything  — 
life  itself — subordinate  to  that  supremacy, —  deeds  of 
suffering  and  valor  never  surpassed,  performed  by  men  in 
the  ranks,  who  may  be  counted  by  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands,  and  performed  by  them  intelligently,  con- 
sciously in  behalf  of  what  is  right,  against  the  violation  of 
sacred  compacts,  against  injustice  and  oppression,  against 
treachery  to  future  generations,  whose  interests  we  are 
appointed  to  guard.  I  cannot  doubt,  as  I  have  confidence 
in  the  wisdom  of  the  Supreme  one,  that  He  means  by 
these  fiery  trials  that  we  should  be  made  a  better,  a 
stronger,  a  happier  people,  and  be  fitted  to  act  more 
worthily  the  part  as  dispensers  of  blessings  to  the  world, 
which  His  Providence  had  seemed  to  mark  out  for  us. 

I  have  but  one  other  brief  thought  to  suggest,  and  that 
may   not   improperly   lead   us  to  retrace  our  steps,   and 


128  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

come  back  once  more  to  the  tomb  from  which  we  took 
our  departure.  The  example  of  the  dead  should  instruct 
the  living.  The  manner  of  the  service  which  we  owe  to 
our  country  may  be  different,  but  the  measure  of  it  is  the 
same  to  all ;  and  that  has  been  illustrated  in  the  self- 
devotion  of  those  whose  memory  we  honor  here  to-day. 
It  is  well  for  us  to  build  their  monuments  ;  but  we  bestow 
the  truest  honor  upon  them,  when  we  take  up  the  work 
which  by  reason  of  death  has  fallen  from  their  hands,  and 
carry  it  forward,  in  their  spirit,  to  its  consummation. 
Happy,  oh,  thrice  happy  they,  who  having  fallen  for  their 
country,  rest  now  in  their  graves,  compared  with  those 
who  survive  a  country  lost  through  their  neglect  and 
cowardice ! 

I  am  reminded  of  a  sentiment  of  the  true-hearted 
patriot,  on  whom  Providence  has  devolved  the  task  of 
guiding  our  ship  of  State  through  this  night  of  tempest 
and  gloom,  which  should  be  engraven  on  all  our  hearts. 
It  was  well  said  by  him,  at  Gettysburg,  that  the  proper 
use  of  an  occasion  like  this,  as  we  bend  over  the  graves 
of  our  martyr-soldiers,  "  is  to  dedicate  ourselves  anew  to 
the  living  work  of  saving  the  country  for  which  they 
died."  We  learn  our  duties  most  safely  by  inferring  them 
from  the  providential  circumstances  under  which  life  has 
been  allotted  to  us.  Let  it  then  be  brought  home  to  the 
heart  of  every  true  man  and  woman  in  this  land,  that 
our  appropriate  work  in  this  our  day  and  generation  is, 
by  every  patriotic  duty  performed,  by  self-denial  practised, 
by  life  itself  surrendered  if  need  be,  to  thwart  this  rebel- 
lion, and  save  our  imperilled  country  and  its  liberties,  to 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  mankind. 


LETTER  FROM  PRESIDENT  FELTON.         I  29 

CHAPTER    XL 

1 860-1 865. 

RETROSPECT. HONORS. DEATHS    OF    FRIENDS. REMARKS 

AT      NEWTON. LITERARY      LABORS. 

EXTRACTS    FROM    JOURNAL. 

The  course  of  events  may  here  be  retraced  to  notice 
some  occurrences  in  the  sphere  of  Dr.  Hackett's  pro- 
fessional and  personal  relations. 

November  14th,  i860,  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  founded 
in  1780.  In  1 86 1,  he  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from 
Harvard  University,  where  for  many  years  he  was  an 
examiner,  and  where  he  had  a  valued  circle  of  friends, 
including,  in  the  Greek  department,  Professor  Felton,  and 
Professor  Sophocles,  whose  learning  Dr.  Hackett  con- 
sidered as  unsurpassed  by  that  of  any  man  with  whom 
he  ever  conversed. 

Preliminary,  as  it  would  appear,  to  the  proper  engross- 
ment of  the  honorary  degree,  he  received  the  following 
sportive  note  from  President  Felton  : — 

Cambridge,  June  24th,   1S61. 

My  dear  Professor : — I  have  lately  been  engaged  in  a 

profound  and  laborious  investigation  to  settle  a  point  of 

philology.     None  of  the  authorities  I  have  consulted  — 

and  some  of  them  are  very  high — throws  the  smallest 

glimmer  of  light  upon  the  question.     I  know  of  but  one 

source  to  which  I  can  resort  with  a  probability  of  being 
10 


I30  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

able  to  solve  the  mystery.  It  is  not  an  ancient,  mutilated 
inscription — though  it  bears  some  analogy  to  that; — it  is 
not  a  choral  metre,  or  Aristophanic  Parabasis  ;  it  is  not  a 
question  of  apostolic  topography ; — it  has  something  to 
do  with  the  Bema,  and  something  with  the  Cadmean 
letters ; — it  is  connected  with  the  acrophonetic  system  of 
Egyptian  hieroglyphics ; — in  short,  it  has  utterly  puzzled 
my  faculty  of  conjectural  criticism,  and  passed  the  know- 
ledge of  the  most  learned  men  I  have  called  in  council. 
If  you  can't  answer,  nobody  can,  and  I  shall  give  up  the 
search,  with  "Who  wrote  Junius?"  and  "Who  was  the 
Man  in  the  Iron  Mask  ?" 

What  does  B.  stand  for, — the  initial  of  your  middle 
name  ?  That's  the  question  I  have  to  put,  with  Shak- 
spere, 

To  B.  or  not  to  B.,  that's  the  question. 

Yours  ever, 

C.  C.  Felton. 
Prof.  Horatio  B?  Hackett,  D.  D. 

March  4th,  1862,  he  attended  the  funeral,  at  Cambridge, 
of  this  lamented  friend,  Cornelius  Conway  Felton,  so 
short  time  the  President  of  the  University,  so  long  its 
ornament  as  a  scholar,  who  died  at  Chester,  Pa.,  a  week 
previously.  The  name  of  the  genial  man  and  ardent 
Grecian  is  associated  with  those  of  Dr.  Hackett's  other 
friends,  Edwards  and  Sears,  in  the  promotion  of  Classical 
studies  in  America. 

At  the  Commencement  season  of  1862,  he  received 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Amherst  College,  concern- 
ing which  he  writes  to  Professor  Tyler  in  these 
terms: — "The    degree    which    the    College    has    confer- 


TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    CHASE.  131 

red  on  me  is  one  that  never  entered  my  thoughts,  and 
is  altogether  beyond  my  deserts.  Its  value  is  enhanced 
by  the  honorable  rank  which  the  College  has  now  gained 
through  its  able  Faculty,  and  its  numerous  graduates,  who 
have  made  themselves  so  favorably  known  in  every  de- 
partment of  literary  and  civil  service.  None  but  a  very 
distinguished  man  could  well  decline  such  an  honor,  if  he 
were  so  disposed,  without  seeming  to  court  the  publicity 
which  he  affects  to  shun." 

On  the  1 8th  of  May,  1863,  Dr.  Hackett  took  posses- 
sion of  the  pleasant  estate  at  Newton  Centre,  which 
continued  to  be  the  home  of  his  family  for  the  remaining 
seven  years  of  residence  in  that  place.  In  the  church 
not  far  removed,  on  the  fourth  of  November,  1864,  he 
made  one  of  the  addresses  at  the  funeral  of  his  tenderly 
esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Irah  Chase.  The  tribute  of  one 
passage  which  it  contains  must  find  place  here  : — 

"  I  ought  not  to  prolong  these  remarks.  Yet  indulge 
me  in  one  word  of  private  sorrow,  as  I  look  for  the  last 
time  on  these  remains  of  one  whom  I  have  known  and 
loved  so  long.  It  is  to  me  an  affecting  moment  to  stand 
here  and  say  farewell  forever  to  all  that  is  earthly  of  a 
friendship  which  has  bound  together  the  choicest  years  of 
my  life  ;  a  friendship  to  which,  under  circumstances  of 
perplexity  and  trial,  I  could  always  come  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  obtaining  wise  and— oh,  privilege  rarer  still  ! — 
honest  advice  ;  a  friendship  which,  in  scenes  of  bereave- 
ment and  sorrow  like  this,  has,  by  its  tender  sympathy, 
soothed  my  heart  like  the  voice  of  an  angel ;  a  friendship 
to  which  I  can  look  back  through  all  these  many  years, 
and  aver,  with  the  strictest  truth,  that  from  the  hour  when 


132  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

I  first  felt  the  grasp  of  his  warm  hand,  when  introduced 
to  him  almost  as  a  stranger,  to  that  other  hour,  when, 
within  these  few  days,  he  stretched  out  to  me  that  same 
hand  for  the  last  time,  already  chilled  by  death,  it  has 
never  undergone  change  or  abatement,  has  never  been 
obscured  by  so  much  as  the  passing  of  the  shadow  of  a 
single  fleeting  cloud." 

A  few  months  earlier,  June  29th,  1864,  Dr.  Hackett 
had  been  associated  with  Dr.  Chase,  and  with  Drs.  Ripley, 
Sears,  Pattison  and  Arnold,  in  the  exercises  connected 
with  laying  the  corner  stone  of  a  new  building  at  Newton, 
for  library,  chapel  and  lecture-room  requirements.  The 
Watchman  and  Reflector,  July  7th,  1864,  thus  reports 
his  remarks  on  the  occasion  : — 

"  Prof.  Hackett  was  the  next  speaker,  and  alluded 
impressively  to  his  association  with  the  seminary,  of  just 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  He  had  connected  himself  with 
it  under  the  full  persuasion  that  the  Baptist  ministry 
were  pledged  to  support  it,  and  that  the  Baptist  denomi- 
nation would  be  satisfied  with  any  graduate  who  should 
be  deemed  worthy  of  the  privileges  of  the  Institution, 
and  do  as  well  as  he  could  in  it.  During  his  life  here 
he  had  endeavored  to  consecrate  himself  to  the  work 
assigned  him.  He  then  mentioned  his  fears  in  the  past, 
and  the  discouragements  which  had  often  weighed  upon 
his  own  mind  as  he  looked  to  the  future  of  the  seminary. 
It  had  appeared  to  him  sometimes  as  if  even  he  might 
live  to  survive  the  Newton  Theological  Institution.  The 
air  had  been  so  full  of  sounds  that  he  had  almost  feared 
to  wake  some  fine  morning  and  find  that  it  had  taken 
wings  and  alighted  upon  one  of  the  hills  of  New  Hamp- 


REPORT    OF    REMARKS.  I  33 

shire.  Once  it  had  seemed  that  the  Institution  must 
remove  and  settle  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut ; 
and  once  again,  on  the  shores  of  the  Hudson  ;  and  once 
again,  in  some  more  distant  habitable  part  of  the  State 
of  New  York — but  now  those  fears  were  all  gone.  The 
work  done  here  to-day  settled  forever  the  question  of 
the  fixity  of  the  Newton  Theological  Institution.  In 
putting  down  this  stone  we  anchor  our  good  ship  in  firm 
holding  ground,  and  never,  through  all  the  storms  of 
succeeding  centuries,  shall  it  be  shaken  from  its  moor- 
ings. There  is  now  no  more  room  for  apprehension ; 
our  tabernacle  has  entered  into  its  rest.  So  long-  as 
under  the  spires  of  yonder  city,  and  within  the  bosom 
of  the  peaceful  villages  that  lie  in  the  sweet  valleys 
seen  from  this  hill,  a  Christian  ministry  shall  live  to  build 
upon  the  corner  stone,  Jesus  Christ,  so  long  shall  this 
Institution  which  we  are  to-day  doing  so  much  to  es- 
tablish, abide  upon  this  spot,  and  maintain  the  honor 
of  the  Christian  faith.  Dr.  Hackett  closed  with  a  forci- 
ble allusion  to  the  training  of  the  first  twelve  theological 
students,  with  their  three  years'  term  under  the  incom- 
parable Teacher,  and  applied  the  example  to  answer  the 
objections  urged  against  a  learned  preparation  for  the 
ministry." 

Just  six  months  before  Dr.  Chase's  funeral,  Dr.  Hack- 
ett 's  name  was  at  the  head  of  a  committee  which  prepared 
a  tribute  of  respect,  adopted  May  4th,  1864,  by  the 
Amherst  Alumni  of  Boston  and  vicinity,  to  the  memory 
of  the  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  who 
was  connected  with  the  College,  as  President  and  Pro- 
fessor, during  a  period  of  nearly  forty  years. 


134  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

Of  literary  work  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Hackett,  belong- 
ing to  this  period  and  not  yet  noticed,  there  may  be 
mentioned,  first,  the  thirty  articles  which  he  contributed 
to  the  original  edition  of  Dr.  William  Smith's  Dictionaiy 
of  the  Bible,  published  in  England,  between  i860  and 
1863.  In  April,  1861,  he  wrote  an  introduction  to  the 
American  edition  of  Westcott's  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  the  Gospels,  which  he  welcomed  as  an  impor- 
tant aid  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  students  as  an  accom- 
paniment of  the  ordinary  lectures  and  oral  teaching.  It 
was  now  some  twenty  years  that  he  had  been  teaching  this 
study  critically,  and  for  some  fifteen  more  he  was  to  be 
engaged  upon  it  with  ever  fresh  love  and  zeal.  Those  who 
know  what  he  helped  students  to  achieve  in  this  direc- 
tion, will  feel  that  one  great  secret  of  his  success  lay 
in  his  clear  appreciation  of  the  conditions  of  the  case, 
of  the  difficulty  to  be  overcome,  and  the  danger  to  be 
avoided,  as  revealed  in  the  following  words :  — "  The 
writer's  experience  as  a  teacher  of  biblical  exegesis  has 
led  him  to  think,  that  there  is  no  portion  of  the  New 
Testament  on  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  give  to  the 
instruction  imparted  a  character  of  unity  and  complete- 
ness, as  the  Gospels.  The  subject  has,  no  doubt,  its 
intrinsic  difficulties,  which  no  labor  can  wholly  over- 
come. The  time  usually  devoted  to  this  part  of  the 
course  of  study  is  and  must  be  disproportionate  to  the 
amount  of  work  to  be  performed.  It  is  possible  to  read 
and  compare  the  different  narratives  only  in  some  of  the 
more  important  sections.  Very  few  are  able,  in  such  a 
rapid  survey  of  the  ground,  to  lay  up  in  their  minds  a 
connected  view  of  the  Saviour's  life.     The  impression  of 


WRITINGS.  135 

his  character  as  unfolded  in  his  works  is  liable  to  be 
indistinct  and  confused.  Numberless  questions  respect- 
ing the  plan  of  the  Evangelists  and  the  mode  of  recon- 
ciling them  with  each  other,  have  been  thrust  on  the 
student." 

It  is  proper,  in  this  connection,  to  remark  the  great 
usefulness  of  Dr.  Hackett's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  which  he 
was  accustomed  to  dictate  to  his  classes.  It  was  trans- 
lated for  the  Karens,  by  the  Rev.  Alonzo  Bunker,  of  the 
class  of  1865,  in  grateful  remembrance  of  the  advantage 
he  had  himself  derived  from  it.  A  copy  of  the  Transla- 
tion was  sent  by  him  to  Dr.  Hackett,  in  1871,  with  a 
most  appreciative  and  gratifying  letter. 

In  1862,  Dr.  Hackett  published  an  article  in  the 
Bibliotheca  Sacra,  entitled:  "  Remarks  on  Renderings  of 
the  Common  Version  (in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians)," 
which  was  followed  by  another  on  the  same  subject,  three 
years  later.  His  labors  upon  this  Epistle,  of  the  same 
nature  as  those  upon  that  to  Philemon,  though  made 
ready  for  the  press,  in  1861,  and  possessed  in  printed 
form  by  himself,  were  never  given  to  the  public.  His 
analysis  of  the  contents  of  the  Epistle,  revised  at  this 
time,  was  published  in  the  Christian  Review,  for  October, 
1 86 1.  To  this  periodical,  from  about  1838  onward,  he 
contributed  many  valuable  articles.  Among  these,  in  his 
earlier  years  at  Newton,  were  translations,  with  notes, 
from  such  standard  authors  as  Hemsen,  Neander,  Nie- 
buhr. 

Soon  after  the  beginning  of  1865,  Dr.  Hackett  records 
that  he  hopes  to  keep  the  resolution  to  study  only  after,  or 
besides,  four  hours'  daily  exercise.     He  now  peculiarly  felt 


I36  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

the  necessity  of  extra  labors  to  supplement  a  salary  inade- 
quate to  the  support  of  his  family.  He  was  no  stranger 
to  the  fact  that  the  walls  of  many  institutions  of  learning 
have  been  cemented  with  the  life-blood  of  those  instru- 
mental in  their  origination  and  firm  establishment.  He 
observes  at  this  time,  "  In  looking  at  the  bust  of  dear 
Dr.  Chase,  one  can  hardly  help  saying,  '  He  asked  for 
bread,  and  they  gave  him  a  stone.' "  The  tasks,  however, 
in  which  he  was  soon  to  be  engaged,  were  all  directly 
connected  with  his  duties  as  a  professor,  and  subservient 
to  their  most  efficient  discharge. 

In  the  general  rejoicing  of  April  3d,  1865,  his  lecture 
at  the  Institution  was  given  up,  and  in  the  evening  he 
received  a  serenade  from  the  students.  A  week  later,  he 
addressed  a  meeting  of  his  townsmen  on  the  occasion  of 
Lee's  surrender.  In  less  than  another  week  came  the 
terrible  shock  of  the  President's  assassination.  "Sad,  sad, 
sad,"  writes  the  patriotic  pen  in  his  journal. 

Parental  affection  is  revealed  in  the  aspiration  recorded 
after  having  witnessed  a  baptism,  "Oh,  that  my  dear  chil- 
dren were  true  followers  of  Christ  ! "  Filial  regard  is 
shown  in  the  mention  of  "  the  sad  pleasure  of  seeing  my 
aged,  infirm  mother  once  more,"  on  a  visit  for  the  pur- 
pose to  Methuen,  in  May.  She  died,  February  19th, 
1866. 

On  the  first  of  June,  he  heard  Mr.  Sumner  deliver  his 
eulogy  on  Lincoln,  and  a  few  days  later,  met  him  at  the 
home  of  their  common  friend,  the  Hon.  Richard  Fletcher. 

On  being  thanked,  soon  after  this  time,  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Ripley,  of  Portland,  for  being  willing  to  preach  so  often 
for  him,  when  he  lived  in   Providence,  he  muses,  "How 


NEWTON    INSTITUTION    IN     1 865.  1 37 

strange   that    I    preached    then   so   readily,   and   now   so 
shrink  from  it." 

In  the  summer  of  this  year,  1865,  he  presided  at  the 
Newton  Anniversary,  June  28th,  and  attended  Com- 
mencement at  Amherst,  as  well  as  at  Cambridge.  He 
also  visited  Saratoga,  which  was  a  somewhat  favorite 
resort  with  him. 


CHAPTER     XII. 

1 865-1 868. 

LAST  YEARS  IN  NEWTON  INSTITUTION. LITERARY  LABORS  I 

DICTIONARY  OF    THE   BIBLE; WORK   ON    LANGE's  COM- 
MENTARY;  PLUTARCH. ACTIVITY  IN  ACADEMICAL 

SERVICES. RETIREMENT    FROM    PROFESSORSHIP 

IN    NEWTON. 

In  the  autumn  of  1865  began  what  proved  to  be  the 
last  triennium  of  Dr.  Hackett's  connection  with  the 
Institution  at  Newton. 

A  large  and  appreciative  class,  of  more  than  twenty 
members,  was  admitted  at  this  time,  nearly  half  of  whom 
had  been  graduated  from  college  for  from  two  to  seven 
years.  A  number  had  been  in  the  military  service  of  the 
country,  including  officers  who  had  commanded  regi- 
ments and  led  them  home  at  the  close  of  the  war.  The 
titles  and  phrases  of  the  camp,  and  vestiges  of  its  attire, 
were  for  a  while  familiar  in  the  cloister,  and  weapons 
which  were  the  instruments  or  trophies  of  the  nation's 
defence,  garnished  its  walls. 


I38  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

The  transition  had  begun  to  that  new  order  of  things 
which  has  produced  a  correspondence  between  the  ap- 
pointments of  the  Seminary,  and  its  unrivalled  beauty 
for  situation.  During  this  year,  however,  Dr.  Hackett 
still  gave  his  instructions  in  a  ruinous  apartment  of  the 
old  "  Mansion  House,"  which  continued  to  serve  for 
chapel,  class-rooms,  and  refectory,  besides  harboring 
many  of  the  brotherhood  in  its  devious  retreats.  Who 
that  enjoyed  it,  will  ever  forget  the  eloquence  that 
irradiated  that  old  dilapidated  room  in  the  once  lordly 
abode  of  fifty  years  before!  Colby  Hall  was  not  com- 
pleted and  dedicated  until  September,  1866. 

Before  winter  he  had  accepted  the  proposals  of  Messrs. 
Hurd  and  Houghton,  that  he  should  edit  an  American 
Edition  of  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible.  In  this  he 
had  the  cooperation  of  that  scholar,  of  unsurpassed  quali- 
fications for  the  task,  Ezra  Abbot,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  then 
Assistant  Librarian  of  Harvard  College,  now  Professor 
in  its  Divinity  School.  Dr.  Hackett  revised  his  own 
former  contributions,  added  very  largely  to  their  number, 
and  enlisted  the  service  of  the  most  able  scholars  of 
America.  These  labors  were  at  once  commenced,  though 
the  publication  of  their  results  did  not  take  place  until 
1867  to  1870. 

At  the  same  time,  he  had  in  hand  the  translation  of 
Van  Oosterzee's  Commentary  on  Philemon,  with  addi- 
tions, for  Dr.  SchafT's  edition  of  Lange's  Commentaries. 
After  this  was  finished,  the  same  service  was  undertaken 
for  Braune's  Commentary  on  Philippians,  in  that  series. 
It  seems  proper  to  mention  here,  as  Dr.  Hackett  in- 
tended and  directed  to  have  done  in  that  work,  and  has 


JOINT    EDITION    OF    PLUTARCH.  1 39 

himself  done  in  the  Dictionary,  the  service  rendered,  in 
translating  the  latter  Commentary,  by  the  Rev.  J.  B.  G. 
Pidge,  a  student  at  Newton  from  1866  to  1869. 

In  1867,  a  long  cherished  idea  of  twenty  years  on  the 
part  of  Dr.  Hackett,  was  fulfilled  by  the  publication  of 
Plutarchus  Dc  Sera  Numinis  I  Indicia  in  a  revised  edition, 
with  Notes,  by  himself  and  Professor  W.  S.  Tyler.  The 
latter  gentleman  had  secured  the  introduction  of  the 
work  into  the  curriculum  of  Amherst  College,  in  1847, 
and  had  afterwards  published  very  valuable  articles  upon 
Plutarch  and  his  Moralia.  So  early  as  1850,  in  a  letter 
to  his  friend,  Dr.  Hackett  proposed  the  project  of  joint 
editorship,  as  one  that  he  had  long  meditated.  "  The 
severe  critical  taste  and  high  standard  of  the  Professor," 
writes  Dr.  Tyler,  "  are  seen  in  the  depreciatory  terms  in 
which  he  speaks  of  his  own  edition,  and  which,  though 
sincere  and  characteristic,  were  not  deserved.  I  have 
myself  always  looked  only  with  wonder  and  admiration 
upon  the  edition,  especially  when  I  saw  the  paucity  of 
helps  of  which  he  could  avail  himself,  and  of  the  materials 
which  he  found  ready  to  his  hands.  The  body  of  the 
Notes  remains  substantially  the  same  in  the  joint  edition, 
as  in  the  first.  Professor  Hackett  revised  the  old  notes, 
and  contributed  new  ones.  My  part  of  the  book  was 
chiefly  the  better  adaptation  of  it  to  the  use  of  college 
students." 

In  a  letter  of  the  same  year,  Dr.  Hackett  mentions 
having  just  received  a  note  from  Tholuck  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  a  copy  of  the  original  edition.  It  states  the 
interesting  fact,  that  that  treatise,  when  he  was  in  a  state 
of  infidelity,  had  a  preparatory  influence  upon  his  mind, 


140  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

in  disposing  him  to  attend  to  the  claims  of  the  Gospel. 
This, must  have  confirmed  the  opinion  Dr.  Hackett  had 
two  years  before  expressed  to  Dr.  Tyler,  that  pagan 
antiquity  has  nothing  to  show  which  will  bear  the  least 
comparison  with  it,  considered  not  so  much  as  a  philoso- 
phical, as  a  moral  disquisition  on  the  most  important 
topics  which  can  engage  the  human  mind.  This  testi- 
mony may  also  have  helped  to  inspire  the  sentence  in  the 
preface  to  the  joint  edition  :  "  Time  and  experience  have 
confirmed  the  conviction  which  we  have  always  enter- 
tained of  the  surpassing  value  of  the  writings  of  Plutarch, 
as  emphatically  the  historian  of  divine  Providence,  among 
the  writers  of  heathen  antiquity,  and  of  this  treatise  in 
particular,  as  a  means  of  strengthening  men's  faith  in  the 
certainty  of  moral  retributions,  and  of  arousing  them  to 
a  juster  sensibility  to  the  deserts  of  crime  committed 
against  law,  divine  or  human."  This  preface,  dated  Novem- 
ber 20th,  1866,  concludes:  "It  may  be  excused  if  we 
take  the  liberty,  as  classmates  in  College  and  friends 
whose  intimacy  the  lapse  now  of  almost  two-score  years 
has  only  made  still  closer,  to  express  the  gratification 
which  we  feel  in  the  association  of  our  labors  and  our 
names  in  this  slight  contribution  to  classical  and  sacred 
literature." 

But  with  all  the  literary  activity  of  this  time  (during 
which  he  was  also  an  associate  editor  of  the  Theological 
Eclectic,  conducted  by  Professor  George  E.  Day,  of  Yale 
Theological  Seminary),  what  an  amount  and  variety  of 
historical  and  exegetical  instruction  was  communicated 
from  the  Professor's  chair  !  A  deep  interest  prevailed  in 
the  Biblical    studies.      Though    provision    at    that    time 


INSTRUCTIONS    AT    NEWTON.  I4I 

existed  for  their  pursuit  only  in  the  Junior  year,  yet,  by 
attending  the  exercises  of  the  succeeding  classes,  during 
parts  of  the  two  following  years,  a  student  during  that 
last  triennium  could,  if  he  chose,  present  an  ample  page 
of  learning,  rich  with  the  spoils  of  notes  on  the  Life  of 
Christ ;  the  first  half  of  the  Gospel  of  Mark  ;  the  harmonic 
study  of  the  Last  Days  of  Christ ;  the  Epistles  to  the 
Galatians,  to  Titus,  to  the  Philippians ;  and  the  First  of 
John  :  and  in  Hebrew,  on  Selections  from  the  Psalms,  and 
the  prophecy  of  Joel ;  not  to  speak  of  readings  from 
Genesis,  and  in  Ruth,  more  particularly  for  grammatical 
purposes,  and  of  lectures  and  dictations  on  the  lower 
Biblical  Criticism,  and  on  the  Geography  of  the  Bible, 
with  directions  for  Essays. 

"  In  his  later  years,"  says  Rev.  Henry  S.  Burrage,  in  his 
full  and  interesting  tribute,  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Hackett's 
decease,  "  he  took  especial  delight  in  reviewing  the  last 
days  of  Christ,  using  the  text  of  Robinson's  Harmony. 
Always  in  his  work  there  was  minute,  accurate  scholar- 
ship, but  here  especially  there  was  more — deep  spiritual 
insight ;  and  as  he  unfolded  the  meaning  of  the  several 
evangelists  in  words  that  touched,  yes,  melted  the  heart, 
how  often  at  the  close  of  the  hour — hour  closing  all  too 
soon — wras  the  exclamation  of  the  disciples,  as  recorded 
by  Luke,  recalled  by  his  students,  '  Did  not  our  heart 
burn  within  us  while  he  talked  with  us  by  the  way,  and 
while  he  opened  to  us  the  Scriptures  ? '  When  we  saw 
him  last,  in  the  summer  of  1872,  wre  were  carried  back  to 
those  happy  days.  He  had  just  been  reading  Long- 
fellow's Divine  Tragedy,  and  said  he  had  often  wished, 
while  studying  the  account  of  the  healing  of  the  Syro- 


I42  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

phenician  woman's  daughter,  that  the  evangelist  had  told 
us  more.  Did  the  daughter  ever  look  upon  the  Christ 
who  had  healed  her  ?  It  certainly  must  have  been  the 
desire  of  her  heart, — O,  for  even  one  glimpse  of  the  Lord  ! 
Well,  he  said,  he  had  been  filled  with  delight  to  find  that 
the  poet,  in  his  Christus,  had  filled  out  this  picture  that  is 
given  us  in  the  Gospels.  The  Saviour  is  making  his 
triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem,  and  the  Syrophenician 
woman  and  her  daughter  are  on  one  of  the  house-tops  in 
the  city.     The  daughter  says  : — 

'  I  wonder 
That  one  who  was  so  far  away  from  me, 
And  could  not  see  me,  by  His  thought  alone 
Had  power  to  heal  me.     O,  that  I  could  see  Him  !  ' 

And  now  her  prayer  is  answered.  Voices  cry,  'Hosanna 
to  the  Son  of  David  ! '  and  as  the  train  moves  along  the 
street,  as  in  a  dream,  she  who  was  healed  beholds  her 
Saviour,  and  is  satisfied.  The  lighting  up  of  the  face,  the 
flashing  eyes,  the  occasional  drawing  in  of  the  breath, 
the  burning  words,  as  the  Doctor  spoke,  all  carried  us 
back  to  our  student  days  at  Newton." 

Somewhat  early  in  the  academical  year  of  1867-8,  it 
was  known  that  Dr.  Hackett  would,  at  its  close,  terminate 
his  long  connection  with  the  Theological  Institution,  pur- 
posing to  devote  himself,  in  the  retirement  of  his  study, 
to  his  favorite  pursuits,  and  to  form,  by  invitation,  a  more 
exclusive  connection  with  the  Bible  Union. 

As  the  months  wore  away,  and  the  time  drew  near 
for  the  severance  of  their  relations  to  an  illustrious  and 
beloved  teacher,  the  students  marked  their  sense  of  the 


FAREWELL    TO    NEWTON    INSTITUTION.  I43 

impending  event  by  an  offering  of  books,  a  sumptuous 
edition  of  Shakspere,  and  the  works  of  Lord  Bacon. 
Two  or  three  days  after,  they  were  acknowledged  in  brief 
and  beautiful  remarks,  in  the  Chapel,  complimenting  the 
generosity  and  the  choice  of  the  gift,  and  alluding  to  the 
value  of  Bacon's  principles  in  every  realm  of  investiga- 
tion. While  conducting  the  chapel  service  on  the  last 
evening  of  the  last  week  of  regular  study,  in  attempting 
to  read  the  hymn,  Dr.  Hackett  broke  down  under  his 
emotions.  A  few  evenings  after,  he  held  a  farewell  re- 
ception at  his  home. 

He  presided  at  the  anniversary  which  occurred  Wed- 
nesday, June  24,  1868.  The  Exercises  of  the  occasion 
were  celebrated,  by  the  efforts  of  the  Graduating  Class, 
with  rather  unusual  pomp,  the  procession  to  the  Church 
being  headed  by  the  Germania  Band,  of  Boston,  which, 
resolved  into  an  orchestra,  varied  the  four  hours'  session 
within  with  fine  music.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Baron  Stow  offered 
the  opening  prayer.  In  his  Farewell  Address,  Dr.  Hackett 
congratulated  the  Class,  as  well  as  the  Faculty  and  the 
Trustees,  that  a  long  and  arduous  course  of  study  had 
been  so  successfully  terminated.  He  fitly  referred  to  the 
removal,  by  death,  of  one  of  their  number,  and  com- 
memorated his  virtues.  Those  whom  he  addressed  had 
exceeded  what  was  required  of  them,  and  had  devoted 
more  than  the  allotted  or  expected  time  to  Biblical 
studies.  They  had  acted  upon  the  idea  that  a  preacher, 
in  order  to  be  successful,  must  thoroughly  study  and 
understand  the  Bible.  A  fervid  aspiration  was  expressed 
for  the  rehabilitation,  upon  this  basis,  of  the  American 
pulpit  in  its  former  grandeur  and  glory.     He  alluded  with 


144  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

feeling  to  his  departure  from  the  Institution,  and  particu- 
larly to  his  separation  from  the  class  before  him,  the  last 
of  a  long  series.  He  had  been  connected  with  the 
Institution  for  almost  a  generation,  and  should  ever  hold 
its  graduates  in  the  fondest  remembrance.  He  closed  by 
invoking  the  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  their  work  of  faith 
and  labor  of  love,  and  with  the  prayer  that  each  one 
might  finally  receive  the  welcome,  Well  done. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Stow,  their  President,  read  a  letter  from 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  gratefully  acknowledging  their 
obligations  to  Dr.  Hackett,  and  with  regret  accepting 
his  resignation.  At  their  meeting  on  the  previous  day, 
a  paper,  prepared  by  a  committee  consisting  of  the 
President,  and  the  Rev.  Drs.  Caldwell  and  Lamson, 
was  unanimously  adopted  and  ordered  to  be  made 
public,  as  follows  : — 

"The  Rev.  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  D.  D„  LL  D.,  was 
unanimously  elected,  August  5th,  1839,  Professor  of 
Biblical  Literature  and  Interpretation  in  the  Newton 
Theological  Institution. 

"  His  previous  reputation  as  a  scholar  and  an  educator, 
inspired  high  hopes  of  his  success  in  the  particular  de- 
partment to  which  he  was  invited  ;  and  the  Board  of 
Trustees  are  happy  in  testifying  that  all  those  hopes  have 
been  fully  realized.  He  applied  himself  at  once  and 
earnestly  to  such  studies,  over  a  broad  range,  as  would 
best  qualify  him  for  effective  service  as  a  teacher  of  the 
languages  in  which  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  were 
written,  and  as  a  reliable  interpreter  of  the  inspired 
writings.  His  prosecution  of  those  studies,  both  at 
home    and    in    foreign    lands,   was   enthusiastic,   and   his 


TRIBUTE    OF    THE    TRUSTEES    AT    NEWTON.  145 

proficiency,  eminently  apparent,  soon  made  him  known 
and  respected  far  beyond  the  limited  circle  within  which 
his  official  duties  were  performed." 

"In  the  class-room  he  has  manifested  a  special  facility, 
not  only  in  the  communication  of  what  he  knew,  but 
also  in  the  awakening  of  an  enthusiasm  like  his  own 
in  the  minds  of  his  pupils,  and  thus  stimulating  all  who 
were  susceptible  of  such  influences  to  aim  at  large  attain- 
ments in  that  department  of  sacred  learning. 

"  His  published  works,  containing  matured  results  of 
his  investigations,  are  all  creditable  to  himself,  honorable 
to  the  Institution,  and  serviceable  to  the  students  of  the 
Word  of  God. 

"In  the  twenty-nine  years  of  faithful  service,  Dr.  Hack- 
ett  has  attained  an  elevated  position  among  Biblical 
scholars,  and  is  fortunate  in  having  his  excellence  justly 
appreciated  and  cordially  acknowledged. 

"As  he  has  signified  his  purpose  to  enter  another  field, 
in  which  he  hopes  to  make  his  acquisitions  more  com- 
prehensively available  for  useful  ends,  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  while  accepting  his  proffered  resignation,  cannot 
allow  the  occasion  to  pass  without  a  grateful  recognition 
of  those  services  here  rendered,  which  have  largely  con- 
tributed to  the  high  culture  and  increased  efficiency  of 
our  denominational  ministry,  or  without  a  strong  expres- 
sion of  regret  that  future  classes  in  the  Institution  may 
not  have  the  benefit  of  his  personal  instructions." 

The  following  was  an  utterance  of  the  Boston  press, 
on  the  event  of  Dr.  Hackett's  resignation  : — 

"The  retirement  of  this  distinguished  scholar  from  the 
chair   of   Biblical  Interpretation   in    the    Newton  Theo- 
11 


146  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

logical  Seminary,  which  was  announced  at  the  Anni- 
versary, will  be  deeply  regretted  by  all  the  friends  of  that 
Institution.  Having  served  for  nearly  thirty  years  most 
assiduously  and  devotedly  in  that  position,  he  has  during 
that  time  not  only  put  the  impress  of  his  scholarly  mind 
and  rare  genius  upon  a  whole  generation  of  ministers  of 
the  Baptist  denomination,  but  won  for  himself  an  almost 
world-wide  reputation  as  a  Biblical  scholar. 

"Considering  the  superior  accomplishments  of  Euro- 
pean critics  in  Biblical  studies,  especially  the  Germans,  it 
is  an  occasion  of  honest  pride  to  an  American  to  find 
one  of  his  own  countrymen  constantly  quoted  by  the 
great  English  and  Continental  scholars  as  the  highest 
authority  on  points  of  Scripture  interpretation.  This  has 
been  true  of  Dr.  Hackett,  almost  alone  in  this  depart- 
ment. A  pupil  of  Neander  and  Tholuck — the  life-long 
friend  of  the  latter — he  has  become  the  peer  of  both  of 
them  in  the  realm  of  Biblical  science.  His  Commentary 
on  the  Acts  has  confessedly  no  equal,  and  as  Dr.  Peabody 
in  the  'North  American  Review'  very  justly  says,  is  'one 
of  the  very  few  works  of  the  kind  in  the  English  lan- 
guage which  approaches  in  point  of  massive  erudition  the 
master-works  of  the  great  German  critics,  differing  from 
them  only  in  possessing  a  soundness  and  accuracy  which 
they  sometimes  lack.'  Devoting  himself  with  an  intense 
concentration  to  his  special  work,  he  has  dwelt  almost 
exclusively  for  many  years  in  the  'still  air  of  delightful 
studies.' 

"Here  he  has  been  little  known,  socially,  even  by  his 
nearest  neighbors,  but  all  lovers  of  Scripture  study  owe 
him  a  debt,  and  if  his  life  is  spared  many  years,  we  predict 


ASSOCIATES    AND    SUCCESSORS.  147 

a  yet  greater  one.  He  goes  from  his  honored  place  with 
the  benediction  of  hundreds  of  former  pupils  resting  upon 
him,  and  with  a  well-earned  name  among  the  scholars  of 
the  world." 

During  his  twenty-nine  years  in  the  Institution,  Dr. 
Hackett  had  been  connected  with  nine  Professors,  in- 
cluding, besides  his  colleagues  upon  joining  the  Seminary, 
the  Rev.  Drs.  Chase,  Ripley  and  Sears,  whose  connection 
with  the  work  of  instruction  terminated  respectively  in 
the  years  1845,  i860,  and  1848, — Rev.  Drs.  Robert  E. 
Pattison,  1848-1854  (died  1874);  Alvah  Hovey,  1853-; 
Albert  N.  Arnold,  1855-1857;  Arthur  S.  Train,  1859- 
1866  (died  1872);  George  D.  B.  Pepper,  1865-1867; 
Galusha  Anderson,  1866- 18  73. 

The  duties  which  Dr.  Hackett  had  performed  were 
divided,  upon  his  retirement,  and  the  Rev.  Oakman  S. 
Stearns,  D.  D.,  was  appointed  to  the  functions  of  Biblical 
Interpretation,  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Rev.  Ezra  P. 
Gould  to  the  same  in  the  New  Testament.  Both  these 
gentlemen  had  studied  under  Dr.  Hackett ;  Dr.  Stearns,  in 
the  Class  of  1 846,  after  which  he  had  been  assistant  instruc- 
tor in  Hebrew,  during  the  year  1846-47,  and  Mr.  Gould 
(Harvard  College,  1861),  in  that  of  1868,  in  which  rela- 
tion, just  terminated,  he  had  secured  Dr.  Hackett's 
approval  of  his  capacities  for  this  new  career. 


148  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

CHAPTER     XIII. 

1868-1870. 

TASKS    AS   A  WRITER. CHANGED    MODE    OF    LIFE    FOR    TWO 

YEARS. — -ACCEPTANCE    OF    A    CHAIR    IN    ROCHESTER 

THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY. INTERVAL    BEFORE 

ENTRANCE    ON    ITS    DUTIES. FOURTH 

FOREIGN    TOUR,  IN    GREAT    BRIT- 
AIN   AND    ON    THE    CON- 
TINENT. 

Dr.  Hackett  was  now  engrossed  at  the  same  time  with 
various  labors  :  upon  the  translation  and  revision  of  the 
Books  of  Ruth,  and  of  Judges,  for  the  Bible  Union; 
upon  the  Dictionary  of  the  Bible  ;  and  upon  the  con- 
tributions which  he  had  engaged  to  make  to  Dr.  Schaff's 
edition  of  Lange's  Bibdwerk. 

The  change  from  his  former  mode  of  life  was  a 
great  one.  Hours  upon  hours  of  continuous  applica- 
tion were  not  unfamiliar  to  him,  but  heretofore  they 
had  been  varied  with  the  exhilarating,  even  if  exhausting 
excitement  of  looking  into  attentive  faces,  and  communi- 
cating with  the  living  voice  the  results  of  his  thought  and 
research.  All  this  was  now  gone,  and  he  had  been  too 
long,  and  for  too  compulsive  reasons,  withdrawn  from  the 
pulpit  to  seek  its  wider  and  different  auditory.  The 
experience  of  a  year  was  sufficient  to  dispose  him  to 
listen  to  the  proposal,  made  to  him  through  his  friend  and 
early  pupil  at  Providence  and  Newton,  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  G. 
Robinson,  President  of  Rochester  Theological  Seminary, 
to  become  connected  with  that  Institution.     At  first  the 


ACCEPTANCE    OF    [NVITATION    TO    ROCHESTER.         149 

idea  of  a  non-resident  lectureship  was  entertained,  but  it 
was  soon  abandoned  in  favor  of  a  regular  professorship. 

Dr.  Hackett  visited  Rochester,  September  23d,  1869, 
saw  the  new  home  which  had  just  been  provided  for  the 
Seminary,  and  met  old  and  new  friends.  A  few  weeks 
later,  at  the  daily  Chapel  exercises  in  Trevor  Hall,  the 
President  announced  to  the  students,  that  Dr.  Hackett 
had  accepted  the  professorship  of  Biblical  Literature  and 
New  Testament  Exegesis,  the  duties  of  which,  however, 
he  would  not  enter  upon  until  the  opening  of  the  next 
academical  year.  This  interval  was  spent  by  Dr.  Hackett  in 
completing  the  various  tasks  upon  which  he  was  engaged. 

After  the  lapse  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
it  may  be  allowed,  once  more,  to  glance  at  a  petition 
recorded  on  his  sixty-first  birthday,  December  27th,  1869: 
"  Be  pleased  to  smile  upon  my  future  contemplated  labor 
in  the  new  sphere  which  Thy  Providence  has  opened  to 
me.  May  I  have  health  and  vigor  of  mind  to  make  me 
still  useful  as  a  teacher  of  those  whom  Thou  dost  call  to 
serve  Thee  in  the  ministry,  who  may  look  to  me  for 
instruction  and  guidance.  May  then  my  last  years  be  my 
best  years  in  usefulness,  and  in  preparation  for  that  end  of 
life  to  which  these  hastening  days  bear  me  forward." 

Many  will  long  bless  Heaven  for  the  answer  to  that 
prayer,  which  enables  them  to  say :  "  I  was  a  student 
under  Doctor  Hackett,  in  Rochester  Theological  Semi- 
nary." 

In  April,  1870,  he  set  out,  in  company  with  his  only 
daughter,  Miss  Mary  W.  Hackett,  upon  his  fourth  Euro- 
pean trip.  The  always  delicate  health  of  Mrs.  Hackett 
precluded  her  accompanying  him  on  any  of  these  tours. 


I50  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

The  summer  was  delightfully  spent,  and  embraced  the  at- 
tractive scenes  thus  indicated  by  Miss  Hackett,  in  a  letter 
not  written  with  the  expectation  of  its  publication  : — 

"I  can  give  an  itinerary  of  the  journey  in  1870,  so  as 
to  define  the  trip  without  entering  into  detail. 

"Leaving  New  York,  April  20th,  we  landed  at  Queens- 
town,  the  29th,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  Cork,  remain- 
ing there  over  the  Sabbath.  Then  to  Dublin,  to  Bangor, 
in  Wales,  to  Shrewsbury,  and  to  London,  where  we 
remained  for  two  weeks  or  more. 

"Father  wrote  two  or  three  articles  for  the  Dictionary 
after  reaching  London,  and  it  is  recorded  in  my  journal 
that  he  wrote  one  the  23d  of  May,  which  must  have 
been  the  last,  as  I  am  quite  sure  that  he  wrote  none  after 
leaving  that  city.  We  met  Dr.  Park  in  London,  at  the 
beginning  of  our  tour,  and  also  Dr.  Furber.  Father 
called  upon  his  friend  Dr.  Davies  while  we  were  here. 
We  visited  the  principal  places  of  interest  in  the  city  and 
vicinity — such  as,  Cambridge,  Windsor,  Sydenham,  and 
Kensington,  —  then  Salisbury,  Amesbury,  and  Sarum, 
riding  through  the  New  Forest  to  Lymington,  where  we 
took  a  boat  to  cross  the  Solent,  landing  at  Yarmouth, 
Isle  of  Wight.  Then  we  took  a  carriage  again,  and 
made  almost  the  entire  circuit  of  the  island,  staying  one 
night  at  Ventnor,  and  stopping  on  our  way  to  see  the 
church  where  Legh  Richmond  preached  at  Brading,  and 
where  lies  buried  'Little  Jane,'  the  subject,  as  is  known, 
of  a  tract  by  him,  and  also  at  Arreton,  where  lies  the 
'Dairyman's  Daughter,'  another  of  his  parishioners.  At 
East  Cowes,  we  took  a  steamer  for  Southampton,  and 
visited  Winchester. 


EUROPEAN    TOUR.  I  5  I 

"  Returning  to  Southampton,  we  went  from  there 
to  Havre  and  Paris,  where  we  busied  ourselves  in 
sight -seeing  for  two  weeks,  and  made  an  excursion  to 
Versailles.  From  Paris  to  Geneva,  to  Chamonix,  then, 
after  crossing  the  Mer  de  glace,  back  to  Geneva ;  to  Vevey, 
crossing  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  on  to  Bern,  staying  two  or 
three  hours  at  Freiburg  on  the  way  ;  across  Lake  Thun 
to  Interlachen,  going  while  here  to  the  Staubbach 
water-fall,  and  to  see  the  glacier  at  Grindelwald.  We 
drove  over  the  Briinig  Pass  to  Luzern,  ascended  Mount 
Rim  from  there,  and  of  course  sailed  down  the  Lake  ; 
then  went  on  to  Zurich,  and  Schaffhausen  to  see  the 
Rhine  Falls.  At  Romanshof  we  took  steamer  and 
crossed  Lake  Constance  to  Lindau,  and  thence  came 
by  rail  to  Munich  and  to  Leipzig. 

"A  party  to  celebrate  Dr.  Bauer's  accession  to  the 
Faculty  of  the  University  of  Leipzig,  occurred  on  the 
nth  of  July,  1870,  at  the  residence  of  Dr.  Gotthard  Y. 
Lechler.  There  were  present,  Drs.  Kahnis,  Luthardt, 
Bauer,  Teschendorf,  Lechler,  all  of  whom  made  speeches, 
and  there  were  toasts  for  the  United  States  of  America, 
and,  I  am  quite  sure,  for  the  Seminary  of  Rochester,  as 
well  as  for  father  and  myself.  I  find  these  names  men- 
tioned in  father's  journal,  but  other  celebrities  were 
present,  whose  names  are  lost.  Father  makes  no  special 
mention  of  his  enjoyment  of  this  dinner  party,  but  he  has 
often  in  conversation  referred  to  it,  as  one  of  the  most 
delightful  of  social  evenings  which  he  ever  passed. 

"  The  next  day  we  went  to  call  upon  Dr.  Tholuck, 
at  Halle.  Speaking  of  his  visit,  he  says:  'Soon 
Dr.  Tholuck  came  in, —  seemed  glad  to  see  me;    felt  in 


152  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

my  interviews  with  him  that  he  was  consciously  stand- 
ing near  his  end  ;  without  any  pretence  or  cant,  there 
was  an  air  of  seriousness  and  silent  thought  which 
impressed  me,  and  made  me  feel  actually  solemn  ;  he 
seemed  to  breathe  the  air  of  the  coming  world.  Awe- 
struck I  may  say  I  was.' 

"From  Halle  to  Dresden,  Berlin,  Cologne,  Brussels, 
Ghent,  Ostend,  Dover,  Canterbury,  London,  remaining 
two  weeks;  from  London  to  Oxford,  Edinburgh,  Eng- 
lish lakes,  Liverpool,  reaching  New  York,  August  31st. 

"We  went  out  in  the  Cunard  steamer  Cuba,  and  came 
home  in  the  Java,  of  the  same  line.  Father  discovered, 
on  our  voyage  out,  that  the  same  engineer  was  in  charge 
who  was  on  the  Europa,  in  1858,  at  the  time  of  the 
accident  by  collision,  and  from  him  learned,  that  a 
timber  which  had  been  put  on  to  strengthen  a  weak  spot 
at  the  time  of  building  the  steamer,  was  all  that  saved  it 
from  going  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

"  I  have  omitted  to  mention  some  small  places,  and 
indeed  have  given  a  very  poor  account  of  the  way  in 
which  four  of  the  happiest  months  of  my  life  were  spent ; 
but  so  many  recollections  of  that  summer  come  throng- 
ing into  my  mind,  that  not  without  being  too  diffuse  for 
your  purpose,  can  I  give  even  a  satisfactory  resume  of 
our  travels." 


FACULTY    OF    ROCHESTER    SEMINARY.  I  53 

CHAPTER     XIV. 

1870-1875. 

PROFESSORSHIP     AT     ROCHESTER. OLD    FRIENDS    THERE. 

VISIT    TO    AMHERST    IN     1871. TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    E.    G. 

ROBINSON. DECEASED    CONTEMPORARIES. LIT- 
ERARY    LABOR. POSITION    IN    THE    SEMI- 
NARY.   REMINISCENCE    OF    ANDOVER 

ACADEMY. FIFTH   FOREIGN  TOUR 

IN    EUROPE. 

Upon  reaching  America,  Dr.  Hackett  soon  repaired  to 
Rochester,  being  followed  by  his  wife  and  daughter  a  few 
weeks  later.  The  removal  involved  the  separation  of  his 
family,  the  two  sons,  Messrs.  H.  B.  Hackett,  Jr.,  and 
Benjamin  W.  Hackett,  the  oldest  and  youngest  of  his 
children,  being  occupied  in  mercantile  employments  in 
Boston. 

Dr.  Hackett  entered  upon  his  new  residence  and  en- 
gagements in  1870,  under  pleasant  auspices.  He  had 
lately  completed  tasks  that  were  honorable  monuments 
of  American  sacred  scholarship,  and  was  returning  with 
new  ardor  to  the  vocation  of  his  life  as  a  teacher,  at  liberty 
to  devote  his  entire  attention  to  the  ample  sphere  of  New 
Testament  instruction.  His  associates  in  the  Faculty  of 
the  Seminary,  were  Dr.  Robinson,  President,  and  Davies 
Professor  of  Biblical  and  Pastoral  Theology,  who  had 
been  connected  with  the  Seminary  since  1853  ;  Dr.  R.  J. 
W.  Buckland,  a  graduate  of  Union  College  in  1850,  and 
five  years  later,  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New 
York,  and  for  several  years  a  pastor  in  that  city, — who  had 


154  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

become  Professor  of  Church  History  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Seminary  year  in  1869;  and  Mr.  G.  H.  Whittemore 
(Harvard  College,  i860),  a  student  under  Dr.  Hackett  at 
Newton,  who,  since  September,  1868,  had  been  teacher  of 
studies  in  the  Gospels,  as  well  as  in  the  Hebrew,  which 
now  became  his  single  department.  Dr.  Rauschenbusch, 
at  the  head  of  the  German  department,  a  pupil  of 
Neander,  had  been  among  his  acquaintance. 

In  the  University,  the  President,  Dr.  Anderson,  had 
attended  Dr.  Hackett's  instructions  thirty  years  before, 
during  a  year's  residence  at  Newton  ;  Dr.  Kendrick  was 
his  friend  and  fellow-scholar  ;  Professor  Gilmore,  just  from 
the  pulpit  of  the  Second  Baptist  Church,  had,  twelve 
years  earlier,  become  his  pupil  at  Newton.  Another 
graduate  of  Newton,  in  the  same  class  (1861),  was  the 
Rev.  Henry  E.  Robins,  D.  D.,  now  President  of  Colby 
University  ;  from  1867  to  1873  he  was  pastor  of  the  First 
Baptist  Church,  where  Dr.  Hackett  habitually  worshipped 
while  in  Rochester. 

Still  another  and  an  old  friend  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nott, 
who  had  come  to  Rochester,  with  his  family,  a  few  years 
before.  About  two  years  after  Dr.  Hackett  came,  the 
venerable  and  urbane  Dr.  Peck  began  to  make  Rochester 
his  residence,  during  a  part  at  least  of  the  year.  There 
was  scope  for  the  imagination  in  vivifying  the  past,  when, 
of  a  Sunday,  in  the  old  building  of  the  First  Church,  now 
a  thing  of  the  past,  the  sight  of  the  three  good  men,  so 
remarkably  brought  together  in  their  last  days,  made  one 
muse  upon  the  state  of  the  country,  and  of  the  churches, 
and  of  learning,  when  these  men  first  knew  each  other, 
between  forty  and  fifty  years  before.     It  was  a  good  and 


AMHERST    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  I  55 

pleasant  sight.  Mr.  Nott,  a  pure  Nathaniel-soul,  as 
Neander  said  of  De  Wette,  was  the  first  to  go,  in  the 
early  days  of  May,  1873.  Dr.  Peck  was  taken  in  the 
summer  days  of  1874. 

Towards  the  end  of  1870,  Dr.  Hackett  addressed  a 
note  of  congratulation  to  Dr.  Tholuck,  on  occasion  of 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  assuming  the  duties  of  a 
Professorship,  December  2d,  1820  (at  Berlin).  In  it  he 
expressed  his  obligations  to  Tholuck,  above  all  others,  for 
any  service  he  had  been  able  to  render  to  theological 
learning. 

At  the  close  of  Dr.  Hackett's  first  year  in  the  Seminary, 
he  made  some  remarks,  at  the  Alumni  dinner,  expressive 
of  his  satisfaction  and  interest  in  the  Institution,  and 
of  his  hopes  for  its  future.  In  the  summer  of  this  year, 
which,  like  all  the  long  vacations,  he  spent  at  the  East,  he 
attended  the  Semi-Centennial  of  Amherst  College  (1871). 
His  sentiments  at  this  celebration  are  thus  recorded  in 
the  published  proceedings,  though  it  will  be  seen  from 
Professor  Tyler's  remarks  at  his  funeral,  that  the  "Address  " 
failed  to  be  spoken,  through  the  author's  habitual  shrink- 
ing modesty  : — 

"  I  feel,  Mr.  President,  that  I  might  justly  ask  to  be 
excused  from  attempting  to  say-  anything  on  this  occa- 
sion, certainly  as  a  representative  of  the  class  of  1830; 
for  this  class  has  been  amply  and  admirably  represented 
by  the  orator  and  historian,  to  whom  we  listened  in  the 
forenoon.  For  myself,  I  am  proud  as  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1830,  to  claim  him  as  one  of  our  number.  It  is 
not  every  Professor  who  understands  Greek,  that  under- 
stands English,  as  well.     We,  who  knew  Professor  Tyler 


156  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

at  the  beginning,  are  not  surprised  at  such  versatility  in 
him.  The  discourse  which  we  heard  from  him,  so  elabo- 
rate, instructive,  and  eloquent,  simply  shows  that  as  he 
began,  so  he  has  gone  on,  nobly  fulfilling  the  bright 
promise  of  his  college  days. 

"  Goldsmith  used  to  say,  that,  when  at  the  university, 
he  made  but  a  poor  figure  in  the  mathematics,  but  could 
turn  an  ode  of  Horace  into  English,  equal  to  the  best  of 
them.  Our  Tyler  was  good  in  everything;  he  could 
produce  a  sensation  in  conic  sections,  or  the  calculus,  as 
well  as  in  Horace  or  Homer.  He  learned  to  good  pur- 
pose in  those  days,  the  old  poet's  dictum,  as  good  for 
actual  life  as  for  the  mimic  stage, — 

'Ad  imum 
Qualis  ab  incepto  processerit  et  sibi  constet.' 

"  The  learned  orator,  therefore,  stands  before  us  to-day 
justly  crowned  with  the  laurels  which  he  wears.  I  hope 
the  heresy,  that  dull  and  idle  boys  make  the  smartest 
men,  rebuked  by  such  an  example,  will  never  find  its 
way  into  Amherst  College. 

"  The  older  brothers  of  the  College  rejoice  most  heartily 
with  their  younger  brothers  in  the  manifold  prosperity  of 
the  College  as  we  see  it  to-day,  at  the  end  of  these  first 
fifty  years.  But  as  I  listened  to  the  orator's  account  of 
the  difficulties  and  trials  which  the  friends  and  first 
teachers  of  the  College  had  to  encounter  forty  years  ago, — 
the  period  of  my  connection  with  it, — I  felt  that  I  might 
justly  characterize  that  period,  at  least,  as  the  heroic  age 
in  the  history  of  the  College.  The  age  is  heroic  that 
produces  heroic    men  ;    and  it  was  these   early  trials   of 


AMHERST    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  I  57 

courage,  faith,  disinterestedness,  which  gave  us  such 
characters  as  those  of  Heman  Humphrey,  Edward 
Hitchcock,  Nathan  W.  Fiske,  and  others.  I  account 
it  one  of  my  greatest  obligations  to  the  College,  that 
it  gave  me  the  benefit  of  the  example  and  the  teachings 
of  such  men.  I  can  truthfully  say  that  my  remembrance 
of  their  disinterestedness,  fidelity  and  self-denial,  has 
ever  been  among  the  best  inspirations  of  my  life. 

"  I  have  followed  the  history  of  my  class-mates — about 
forty  of  us — with  some  care.  Several  of  them,  of  whose 
usefulness  and  success  we  had  reason  to  entertain  the 
best  hopes,  died  early.  The  one  of  these  first  taken,  was 
the  youngest  of  our  number.  We,  who  knew  them,  have 
not  forgotten  them.  We  linger  longest  at  the  graves, 
in  which  have  been  buried  "  the  hopes  of  unaccomplished 
years."  Of  the  rest,  I  know  enough  to  say  that  they 
have  all  been  in  their  various  spheres,  upright,  earnest, 
useful  men.  No  one  of  them  has  yet  dishonored  the 
College,  or  brought  a  stain  upon  his  own  personal  repu- 
tation. Four  of  them  have  been  missionaries  of  the 
Cross  in  foreign  lands.  Schneider  discoursed  to  us  at 
our  commencement  (possibly  the  Junior  exhibition),  on 
the  felicity  of  benevolence,  and  having  now  tried  his 
theory  for  nearly  forty  years,  still  lives  to  testify  by  word 
and  deed  that  the  way  to  be  happy  is  to  be  unselfish. 
The  record  of  his  labors  and  successes  in  Asia  Minor, 
reads  like  a  page  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

"  It  is  a  cause  of  regret  to  me — I  feel  it  keenly  to-day — 
that  I  have  been  since  my  graduation  so  seldom  present 
at  the  commencements  of  the  College.  I  have  been 
leading  all  this  time  since  I  left  here,  a  somewhat  vagrant 


158  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

academic  life.  During  all  these  years,  I  have  been,  with 
hardly  a  single  year's  exception,  cooped  up  within  college 
walls,  either  as  a  pupil  in  professional  schools,  or  as  a 
teacher  in  colleges  and  seminaries.  I  have  thus  formed, 
of  course,  new  literary  attachments  and  responsibilities, 
more  or  less  engrossing ;  but  I  can  truly  say,  as  I  come 
back  again  to-day  from  these  wanderings  to  the  old 
Alma  Mater  —  for  old  assuredly  she  must  be,  when  so 
many  sons  rise  up  with  hoary  heads  to  do  her  homage — 
I  can  truly  say  to-day  to  this  dear  mother  of  us  all : 

'  My  heart  untraveled  fondly  turns  to  thee.' 

"Of  this  I  am  confident.  No  one  can  rejoice  more 
heartily  than  I  do,  in  the  bright  auguries  which  introduce 
this  second  Semi-centennial  of  Amherst  College." 

The  case  was  similar  the  next  year  at  Rochester,  in 
1872,  when  Dr.  Robinson,  having  accepted  the  Presi- 
dency of  Brown  University,  terminated  his  connection 
of  nearly  twenty  years  with  the  Seminary.  One  of  the 
city  papers  of  the  next  day,  in  alluding  to  the  Alumni 
dinner,  said : — 

"Among  the  things  that  were  omitted  were  some  words 
of  tribute  that  were  meant  to  be  spoken  by  Professor 
Hackett,  the  colleague  and  life-long  friend  of  Dr.  Robin- 
son, the  retiring  president.  Through  the  kindness  of  the 
Professor,  we  are  permitted  to  lay  before  our  readers  the 
substance  of  what  was  proposed  to  be  said : — 

"  The  statutes  of  my  scholastic  professorship,  if  they  do 
not  make  it  incumbent  on  me  to  abstain  from  all  public 
labors  outside  of  the  lecture  room,  yet  give  me,  at  least 
by  an  explicit  understanding,  the  liberty  to  decline  such 


TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    E.    G.    ROBINSON.  1 59 

labors  without  offence  or  cause  of  complaint  from  any 
one.  Though  regretting  that  I  must  to  such  an  extent 
avail  myself  of  that  liberty,  yet  I  can  say  from  the  heart 
that  I  recognize  the  highest  value  of  my  quiet,  unobtrusive 
work,  as  found  in  its  connections  with  the  practical  and 
spiritual  interests  of  my  fellow-men.  It  is  this  possible 
relation  of  my  student-life  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
from  the  pulpit  through  others,  that  gives  to  my  labors 
all  their  value  in  my  own  view,  and  all  the  importance 
that  I  can  claim  for  them  from  others.  Under  this  aspect 
of  my  office,  I  hope  I  may  say  at  least,  as  a  good  sexton 
(of  whom  I  have  heard )  is  reported  to  have  said  :  'Though 
it  is  not  my  privilege  to  go  into  the  pulpit,  yet  I  hope  it 
is  not  presuming  for  me  to  say,  that  I  have  rung  the  bell 
for  many  a  good  sermon.' 

"  But  I  know  that  other  thoughts  chiefly  occupy  your 
minds  at  this  hour ;  and  they  are  uppermost  also  in  my 
own  heart.  Most  deeply  do  I  sympathize  with  the  friends 
of  the  Seminary,  that  we  see  our  President  here  to-day 
for  the  last  time  in  his  official  capacity.  I  will  not  dis- 
guise it,  I  feel  to-day  a  pride  in  recalling  the  fact  that  Dr. 
Robinson  was  one  of  my  own  early  pupils — first  at 
Brown  University,  when  I,  too,  was  almost  a  boy  (and 
that  no  doubt  brought  us  so  much  the  nearer  to  each 
other),  and  afterward  at  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Newton.  To  be  able  at  this  moment  to  look  up  and 
trace  in  our  sky,  from  that  early  beginning,  only  an  un- 
broken pathway  of  light,  friendship  and  kindly  offices,  is 
to  me  a  delightful  spectacle.  I  hope  it  is  also  a  grati- 
fication to  him." 

"  It    has    been    my    lot    (for    I    have   led  a  somewhat 


l6o  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

vagrant  academic  life)  to  have  been  connected  with  the 
Faculties  of  two  or  three  different  colleges  and  theo- 
logical seminaries,  and  in  at  least  two  or  three  different 
Christian  denominations.  In  these  Faculties  have  been 
some  of  the  best  scholars  in  the  country ;  some  of  the 
most  devoted,  self-denying,  earnest,  as  well  as  able  edu- 
cators in  the  land.  I  have  known,  therefore,  something 
of  the  zeal,  self-devotement,  enthusiasm  of  our  best  men 
in  this  department  of  intellectual  and  Christian  labor. 
But  I  will  allow  myself  to  say,  it  is  but  truthful  testi- 
mony to  say :  I  have  known  no  one,  on  the  whole,  that, 
in  his  devotion  to  his  work,  his  spirit  of  labor,  his  enthu- 
siasm, and  power  to  awaken  enthusiasm  in  his  pupils, 
has  surpassed  Dr.  Robinson.  I  do  not  feel  it  to  be  an 
extravagance  to  apply  to  him  the  words  which  John 
Foster  applied  to  a  well  known  historic  personage.  Dr. 
Robinson  has  seemed  to  me  to  exemplify  in  the  ways 
that  I  have  indicated  an  intensity  of  soul  in  his  work, 
'  kept  uniform  by  the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  for- 
bidding it  to  be  more,  and,  by  the  character  of  the 
individual,  forbidding  it  to  be  less.'  We  are  sorry  to 
have  him  leave  us.  We  have  done  all  we  could  to  retain 
him.  He  acts,  I  am  sure,  under  a  rigid  sense  of  duty  in 
going  from  us ;  and  we,  his  colleagues,  wish  for  him  from 
the  bottom  of  our  hearts  God's  benediction  and  every 
blessing  in  his  new  sphere  of  care  and  responsibility. 
He  will  dwell  there  amid  great  memories,  and  feel  the 
inspiration  of  great  examples  to  incite  him  to  a  noble 
emulation.  But  I  am  sure  of  this,  there  is  only  one  rival 
of  whom  he  need  have  any  fear,  and  that  is — himself." 
During   the   last   ten  years    of   his   life,    Dr.    Hackett 


THE    EMINENT    DEAD.  l6l 

was  frequently  reminded  of  the  notable  era  of  Biblical 
scholarship  in  which  his  own  times  and  labors  had  been 
cast,  by  the  passing  away  of  some  of  its  most  eminent 
characters.  Hupeld  died  in  1866;  Hengstenberg,  in 
1869;  Meyer,  in  1873;  Rodiger  and  Teschendorf,  in 
1874;  Ewald,  in  1875.  Alford  died  in  1871,  and  a  few 
years  later,  Dr.  Pusey's  death  long  seemed  imminent. 
Benjamin  Davies,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  died  in  1875. 

And  at  home,  good  and  wise  men  whom  he  long 
knew,  had  fallen,  some  of  whom  have  been  already  men- 
tioned. October  4th,  1865,  he  went  to  Dr.  Wayland's 
funeral,  at  Providence.  April  8th,  1868,  he  writes:  "Dr. 
Cushman  has  gone  to  his  rest,  (Ft.  68;"  and  on  the  10th 
he  attended  the  funeral.  Many  will  never  forget  the 
tributes  on  that  occasion  of  the  life-long  friends  of  the 
deceased,  Stow,  Neale,  and  Hague,  who,  in  the  same  place, 
had  welcomed  the  refined,  dignified  and  able  Mr.  Cush- 
man, at  his  installation  in  Boston,  July  8th,  1841.  Particu- 
larly it  will  be  remembered  how  Baron  Stow  looked  down 
from  the  pulpit  of  Bowdoin  Square  Church  upon  the  face 
of  Robert  W.  Cushman,  dear  to  him  since  Columbian 
College  days,  and  said,  "Farewell, — a  short  farewell!"  — 
a  prophecy  which  the  closing  days  of  1869  fulfilled,  in 
the  early  morning  of  December  27th.  March  27th, 
1874,  passed  away  an  associate  of  all  these  men,  during 
a  memorable  period  of  the  Boston  pulpit,  the  Rev. 
Edward  N.  Kirk,  D.  D.,  of  the  Congregational  body, 
eminent  for  his  elegant  accomplishments,  impressive 
oratory,  and  consecrated  career. 

After  coming  to    Rochester,   Dr.    Hackett    wrote    an 

introduction  to  an  American  edition  of  Dean  Howson's 
12 


1 62  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

•'  Metaphors  of  St.  Paul,"  and  "  Sketches  of  the  Com- 
panions of  St.  Paul,"  combined  in  one  volume,  and 
published  in  1872.  In  1873,  he  published  an  American 
edition  of  Rawlinson's  "  Historical  Illustrations  of  the 
Old  Testament,"  with  additions,  notes,  and  appendices. 
He  also  contributed  literary  and  critical  notices  during 
this  time  to  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  and  published  in 
the  Baptist  Quarterly,  in  1873,  notes  on  his  favorite 
study  of  the  Transfiguration.  An  engraving  of  Raphael's 
great  picture  hung  on  the  wall  of  his  chamber,  opposite 
the  foot  of  his  bed. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  So- 
ciety, which  was  organized  in  this  country,  to  cooperate, 
in  generous  rivalry,  with  the  British  "  Palestine  Explora- 
tion Fund." 

In  1873,  Dr.  Hackett  had  the  pleasure  of  greeting  Pro- 
fessors Dorner  and  Christlieb  in  Rochester.  They  were, 
it  will  be  remembered,  delegates  to  the  meeting  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance,  in  New  York.  On  a  trip  to  Niag- 
ara, they  stopped  in  Rochester,  visited  the  Seminary,  and 
were  appropriately  received  in  Trevor  Hall. 

In  the  Seminary,  Dr.  Hackett  had  the  respect 
and  attachment  of  his  colleagues,  to  some  of  whom, 
as  has  been  seen,  he  was  dear  by  earlier  ties.  Dr. 
Robinson  was  succeeded  in  the  Presidency  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Augustus  H.  Strong  ( Yale  College,  Class  of 
1857),  whom  Dr.  Hackett  was  prepared  to  welcome, 
through  an  acquaintance  begun  during  Dr.  Strong's 
pastorate  in  Haverhill,  Mass.  At  the  same  time,  the  Rev. 
William  C.  Wilkinson,  D.  D.  (University  of  Rochester, 
1857,   and  a  classmate  of  Dr.    Strong  in   the   Seminary, 


IN    ROCHESTER    SEMINARY.  163 

1859),  joined  the  Faculty  as  Professor  of  Homiletics 
and  Pastoral  Theology.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Howard  Osgood 
(Harvard  College,  1850),  late  Professor  in  Crozer  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  and  a  member  of  the  Old  Testament 
Company  of  the  American  Revision  Committee,  became 
a  member  of  the  Faculty,  in  September,  1875,  as  Acting 
Professor  of  Church  History,  Dr.  Buckland  being  com- 
pelled by  illness  to  relinquish  for  a  time  his  duties. 

On  the  part  of  the  successive  classes  of  students 
who  were  profited  and  delighted  by  his  teachings,  Dr. 
Hackett  was  the  object  of  an  affecting  and  ennobling 
devotion. 

It  may  be  of  interest  here  to  give  the  list  of  New 
Testament  studies,  as  revised  by  him,  for  publication  in 
the  annual  Catalogues  : — 

"  The  Greek  Language  as  used  in  the  New  Testament ; 
Greek  gospels  in  harmony,  on  the  basis  of  Mark  ;  their 
origin,  similarity,  and  destination.  Lectures  on  the  life 
of  Christ,  in  chronological  order,  as  drawn  from  the  gos- 
pels. Epistles  of  the  New  Testament  (varied  from  year 
to  year).  Luke's  life  of  Paul  as  contained  in  the  Acts. 
Principles  of  interpretation  and  the  bibliographical 
helps.  Textual  criticism,  especially  the  later  results, 
and  the  laws  applicable  to  the  various  readings 
History  and  characteristics  of  the  English  version. 
Topography  of  Jerusalem,  and  geography  of  the  first 
Christian  age.  Essays,  paraphrases  and  discussions  by 
the  students." 

April  2d,  1875,  Dr.  Hackett  addressed  these  lines  to 
Mr.  W.  H.  Parmenter,  a  student  in  Andover  Academy: — 

"  I  am  startled  and  amazed,  to  be  reminded  by  your 


164  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

note  of  being  one  of  the  founders  of  a  literary  society 
which  is  about  to  commemorate  its  fiftieth  anniversary. 
I  retain  a  more  distinct  recollection  of  my  membership 
in  the  Social  Fraternity,  into  which  the  boys  used  to  be 
admitted  on  becoming  Seniors.  Dr.  Stearns  and  Dr. 
Palmer  were  my  school-mates,  but  as  I  have  never  seen 
any  general  catalogue  of  the  Academy,  I  do  not  remem- 
ber all  who  may  have  been  founders  or  first  members 
of  the  Philomathean.  Rev.  Wm.  Newell,  D.  D.,  now 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  H.  A.  Thomas,  LL.  D., 
State  Librarian  at  Albany,  were  my  classmates.  Dr. 
Leonard  Woods,  of  Brunswick,  must  have  left  the 
Academy  at  an  earlier  period. 

"  I  love  most  sincerely  Phillips  Andover  Academy ; 
I  revere  the  memory  of  its  noble  founders ;  I  cherish  a 
sincere  regard  for  the  character  and  services  of  all  its 
teachers  whom  I  have  known  there,  and  think  often  and 
tenderly  of  the  dear  boys  who  were  my  classmates 
and    playmates    in    that    bright    morning    of  our    days." 

Soon  after  the  Seminary  Commencement  of  1875, 
Dr.  Hackett  left  America,  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  for 
the  fifth  time,  together  with  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Daniel  L.  Furber,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Newton  Centre,  Mass.  They  sailed  from  Boston, 
on  Saturday,  the  29th  of  May,  in  the  Cunard  Steamer, 
Parthia,  and  landed  at  the  same  wharf,  and  from  the 
same  steamer,  on  Saturday,  the  4th  of  September, 
fourteen  weeks  after.  The  course  of  their  travels  is 
indicated  by  giving  the  names  of  the  places  visited,  in 
their  order,  as  recorded  in  a  published  discourse  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Furber :     Liverpool,  Chester,  Litchfield,  Rugby, 


FIFTH    EUROPEAN    TOUR.  1 65 

Bedford,  Cambridge,  London,  Rotterdam,  The  Hague, 
Ley  den,  Amsterdam,  Utrecht,  Hanover,  Berlin,  Witten- 
berg, Halle,  Leipzig,  Eisenach,  Dresden,  Munich,  Lu- 
cerne, Basle,  Paris,  London,  Dublin,  Cork,  Oueenstown. 
They  heard  Canon  Liddon,  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 
From  the  Prebendal  House,  Peterborough,  August 
10th,  the  Dean,  Dr.  Westcott,  wrote  to  Dr.  Hackett, 
regretting  that  by  his  absence  from  Cambridge  he  had 
missed  the  pleasure  of  making  a  personal  acquaintance, 
and  wishing  there  were  attractions  enough  at  Peter- 
borough to  bring  him  to  spend  a  Sunday  in  the  quiet 
of  a  Cathedral  Close. 

Of  the  preaching  in  the  German  Protestant  pulpits, 
Dr.  Hackett  said,  that  the  sermons  which  he  heard 
were  good ;  some  of  them  excellent ;  the  great  truths 
of  the  Gospel  were  fully  and  faithfully  presented  in 
them,  and  sometimes  very  ably  and  eloquently  defended 
against  the  assaults  of  modern  German  Rationalism. 
As,  on  a  former  tour,  Dr.  Hackett  had  made  a  pious 
pilgrimage  to  the  scene  of  De  Wette's  last  years 
so  he  now  repaired  to  the  home  of  Meyer,  in  Hanover, 
and  brought  from  it  memorials  of  the  scholar,  bestowed 
by  a  member  of  his  family,  consisting  of  articles  from 
his  writing  table,  and  his  own  copy  of  his  Commentary 
on  Philippians. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  D.  D.,  writes  from 
Berlin,  of  a  visit  from  Dr.  Hackett  when  there,  which  he 
cherishes  as  one  of  the  most  pleasant  memories  of  life. 
Again,  and  for  the  last  time,  he  saw,  at  Halle,  his  warm 
friends,  the  Tholucks.  News  from  their  household,  it 
may    be    observed,    sometimes    came    to    Dr.     Hackett 


1 66  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

through  American  students  abroad.  Tholuck,  himself, 
wrote  to  Dr.  Hackett,  in  1869  :  "  I  view  it  as  a  token  of 
your  loyal  remembrance  of  Halle,  that  you  have  sent  us 
two  so  excellent  pupils  of  yours,  and  I  express  to  you  my 
satisfaction  in  the  connection  with  them."  The  gentle- 
men referred  to  were  the  Rev.  Henry  S.  Burrage  (Brown 
University,  1861),  and  the  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Stackpole 
(Harvard  University,  1866),  who  had  gone  from  Newton 
to  Germany,  for  purposes  of  study  and  travel.  After  Dr. 
Hackett's  death,  Mrs.  Tholuck  wrote  to  the  former: 
"The  sad  intelligence  has  reached  us,  and  how  has  it 
grieved  us !  Can  it  be  that  the  dear  man  was  here  only 
this  summer,  and  even  now  among  the  dead!" 

From  Leipzig,  where  was  residing,  as  a  student,  one 
of  his  Rochester  pupils,  Mr.  S.  E.  Brown,  Dr.  Hackett 
brought  back  the  Addresses  at  the  Coffin  and  Grave 
of  Tischendorf,  who  had  passed  from  earth  in  the 
preceding  September.  Among  other  books  purchased 
in  Germany  and  England,  were  three  copies  of  Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  printed  and  illustrated  in  the  antique 
style  of  the  times  when  the  first  editions  appeared.  One 
of  these,  in  accordance  with  a  purpose  he  had  expressed, 
was  sent,  after  his  death,  to  Mr.  John  B.  Trevor.  Perhaps 
the  last  article  he  ever  meditated  was  one  on  Bunyan,  of 
which  he  had  written  some  paragraphs  in  pencil.  From 
London,  he  brought  an  album,  containing  the  photographs 
of  English  Bible  Revisers. 

On  returning  to  Rochester,  he  found  official  notice,  that 
on  the  6th  of  July,  by  a  special  vote  of  council,  he  had 
been  invited  to  become  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology,  London. 


LAST    DAYS.  1 67 

CHAPTER    XV. 

THE    LAST   OF   EARTH. FUNERAL    SERVICES   AT    ROCHESTER. 

— -FINAL    OBSEQUIES    AT    NEWTON. MEMORIALS. 

CHARACTERISTICS. CONCLUSION. 

The  end  of  the  life  that  has  been  sketched  draws  near, 
but  amid  its  familiar,  appointed  course  of  occupations. 
Four  days  before,  on  Friday,  October  29th,  Dr.  Hackett 
was  in  New  York,  at  the  meeting  of  the  American 
Committee  of  Revisers,  in  his  place  as  a  member  of  the 
New  Testament  Company. 

Rev.  Professor  George  E.  Day,  in  transmitting  to  Dr. 
Hackett's  family  the  Revision  Committee's  tribute  to  his 
memory,  wrote  : — 

"  My  own  personal  relations  with  Dr.  Hackett  were 
always  exceedingly  pleasant.  I  always  liked  to  meet 
him  and  talk  with  him.  The  Thursday  evening  before 
his  death  I  spent  nearly  two  hours  with  him,  at  the 
Everett  House,  and  listened  with  the  greatest  pleasure  to 
the  account  which  he  gave  of  his  recent  tour  in  Europe. 
How  little  did  either  of  us  think,  as  we  bade  each  other 
good  night,  that  this  was  our  final  parting  on  earth." 

He  reached  Rochester  late  in  the  evening  of  Saturday 
the  30th.  On  Sunday  morning  he  attended  public  wor- 
ship, for  the  last  time,  at  Plymouth  Church,  where  the 
Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D.,  of  New  Haven,  preached. 
An  interview  followed  after  the  sermon,  which  is  thus 
alluded  to,  in  the  last  entry  in  Dr.  Hackett's  journal :— 


1 68  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

"  Sabbath,  October  31st. 

"  Heard  Dr.  Bacon  at  Plymouth  Church.  Expressed 
the  hope  his  hearers  would  remember  his  sermon  as  well 
as  I  did  the  one  I  heard  from  him  fifty  years  ago." 

In  the  evening  he  remained  at  home,  on  account  of  the 
fatigue  caused  by  the  journey  from  which  he  had  returned 
the  night  before.  On  Monday  afternoon  he  held  his 
usual  exercise  with  the  Junior  Class,  and  was  seen  in  his 
study,  for  the  last  time  in  life,  by  his  colleague  in  the 
Biblical  studies,  who  had  so  much  cause  to  love  him,  and 
whom  he  now  thanked  for  calling,  during  his  absence, 
upon  those  who  were  dear  to  him. 

He  died  at  his  residence,  the  next  day,  Tuesday, 
November  2d,  1875,  between  the  hours  of  twelve  and  one 
o'clock.  He  had  just  returned  from  the  exercise  of  the 
morning  with  the  Middle  Class,  in  the  study  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians.  His  notes  on  verses  19th  and  20th 
of  the  first  chapter  had  been  mislaid,  and  he  asked  that  a 
blank  space  should  be  left  for  them  in  the  note-books ; 
his  last  dictation  was  on  verse  21st.  The  exercise  closed 
before  the  usual  time,  with  the  statement  that  he 
felt  somewhat  unwell.  In  the  interval  before  the  meeting 
of  the  afternoon,  with  the  Junior  Class,  he  was  to  have 
given  his  vote  at  the  annual  State  election.  He  entered 
his  home,  to  go  no  more  out  upon  earth's  errands. 
Henceforth  his  citizenship  was  in  Heaven  alone. 

Passing  rapidly  up  to  his  apartments,  he  complained  of 
a  severe  pain  in  his  side.  He  was  at  once  laid  upon  a 
bed,  and  the  best  remedies  were  applied  by  members  of 
his  family  and  friends  present.  Their  efforts  seemed  to 
be  somewhat  effective,  and  he  signified  his  grateful  appre- 


FUNERAL    SERVICES    AT    ROCHESTER.  1 69 

ciation  of  them ;  hut,  in  a  moment,  after  a  spasm,  he 
ceased  to  breathe.  All  was  over  before  the  arrival  of  the 
physicians  summoned,  but  they  concurred  in  stating  that 
nothing  could  have  been  done  to  avert  the  result,  which 
was  due,  probably,  to  the  formation  of  a  clot,  impeding 
the  circulation  of  the  blood.  The  sad  news  quickly 
spread  in  the  city,  and  telegrams  were  dispatched  to  the 
East,  to  Dr.  Hackett's  two  sons,  citizens  of  Boston.  Mr. 
B.  W.  Hackett  immediately  left  that  city  for  Rochester. 
His  brother  remained  to  make  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  the  last  services  at  Newton. 

A  meeting  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  Seminary 
occurred  by  regular  appointment  in  the  evening,  and  was 
an  occasion  for  the  expression  of  the  deepest  sorrow  at 
the  loss  which  the  cause  of  sacred  letters,  and  the  Sem- 
inary in  particular,  had  sustained. 

A  largely-attended  meeting  of  the  students  of  the 
Seminary  was  held  in  Trevor  Hall  in  the  evening.  It  was 
difficult  to  bring  it  to  a  close,  so  many  were  desirous  of 
testifying  their  veneration  and  love  for  the  departed. 
They  spoke  of  his  child-like  humility,  his  earnest  enthusi- 
asm, his  impartial  pursuit  of  truth,  his  manner  of  con- 
ducting the  devotional  exercises  in  the  chapel,  especially 
his  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  which  showed  his  loving 
appreciation  of  every  word  of  the  sacred  writings,  and 
finally,  of  the  whole  blessed  influence  of  his  devoted  life. 

The  funeral  services  of  Dr.  Hackett,  at  Rochester, 
were  held  on  Friday,  November  5th.  Prayers  were 
offered  at  his  late  residence  on  Clinton  Street,  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Kendrick,  of  Rochester  University,  his  highly  esteemed 
friend.     From    the    house,  members    of  the   family,  and 


I  70  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

some  intimate  friends  were  escorted  to  the  Second  Baptist 
Church,  by  a  long  procession,  headed  by  the  Presidents 
of  the  Seminary  and  University,  followed  by  the  officia- 
ting clergymen,  Rev.  T.  Edwin  Brown,  D.  D.,  and  Rev. 
Charles  J.  Baldwin.  The  pall-bearers  were  the  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Seminary,  Hon.  J.  O. 
Pettengill,  and  Deacon  Alvah  Strong ;  Professors  Wil- 
liam C.  Wilkinson  and  Howard  Osgood,  of  the  Seminary, 
and  Professor  Augustus  Rauschenbusch,  of  its  German 
department ;  Professors  Asahel  C.  Kendrick  and  Albert 
H.  Mixer,  of  Rochester  University;  and  the  Rev.  Henry 
L.  Morehouse,  of   Rochester. 

The  exercises  opened  with  the  invocation,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Brown,  and  an  anthem,  "Sleep  thy  last  sleep." 
Dr.  Brown  read  the  Scriptures,  Elijah's  translation,  the 
twenty-third  Psalm,  and  Paul's  exultation  in  the  pros- 
pect of  immortality.  The  Rev.  A.  H.  Strong,  D.  D., 
President  of  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  then 
delivered  a  just  and  beautiful  eulogy  of  the  departed. 
A  tender  tribute  to  their  late  teacher,  and  a  delicate  ex- 
pression of  sympathy  with  his  bereaved  family,  was  read 
in  behalf  of  the  students  of  the  Seminary,  by  one  of  their 
number,  Mr.  A.  J.  Barrett.  Beautiful  floral  offerings  came 
from  the  same  source  to  the  house  and  the  church. 
Martin  B.  Anderson,  LL.  D.,  characterizing  the  preceding 
discourse  as  exhaustive  and  elaborate,  followed  with 
weighty  and  appreciative  words  which  he  so  well  knows 
how  to  speak.  Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  C.  J.  Bald- 
win, of  the  First  Church,  where  Dr.  Hackett  worshipped 
usually.  The  exercises  embraced  Lyte's  beautiful  hymn, 
"Abide  with   me,"  a  favorite  of  Dr.  Hackett's,  and  con- 


LAST    RITES    AT    NEWTON.  I~I 

eluded  with  "Asleep  in  Jesus."  Opportunity  was  then 
given  to  look  upon  the  face,  which  expressed  a  heavenly 
peace. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  services,  the  procession  re- 
formed and  escorted  the  family  and  the  remains  to  the 
railroad  station,  where  the  cars  were  taken  for  Boston. 
By  arrangement  of  the  Trustees  and  the  Faculty,  Pro- 
fessor George  H.  Whittemore  accompanied  them. 

The  express  train  containing  the  family  and  the  body, 
was  stopped  at  Newton ville,  Massachusetts,  the  next 
morning,  where  carriages  and  a  hearse  were  in  waiting. 
These  were  at  once  driven  to  the  beautiful  home  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Furber,  Newton  Centre. 

The  final  obsequies  at  the  First  Baptist  Church  were 
appointed  at  half  past  one  o'clock,  on  Saturday,  Novem- 
ber 6th,  soon  after  which  the  body  was  borne  into  the 
Church.  The  list  of  pall-bearers  embraced  the  Hon. 
William  Claflin,  Ex-Governor  of  Massachusetts ;  Rev. 
John  Whitney,  of  Newton  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Alexis  Caswell,  of 
Providence ;  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  P.  Peabody  and  Professor 
Ezra  Abbot,  of  Cambridge  ;  Professor  Samuel  L.  Cald- 
well, of  Newton;  Rev.  Henry  M.  King,  of  Boston 
Highlands,  and  Professor  Whittemore,  of  Rochester. 

After  a  funeral  chant,  "Thy  will  be  done,"  the  invoca- 
tion was  offered  by  Dr.  Furber,  and  the  Scriptures  read 
by  the  Rev.  W.  N.  Clarke,  Pastor  of  the  Church,  who 
together  had  the  supervision  of  the  service.  The  first 
called  upon  by  Dr.  Furber,  was  Professor  Whittemore, 
who  spoke  briefly  as  the  representative  of  Rochester 
Theological  Seminary. 

Extended  tributes  were  then  paid  by  Rev.  Professor 


172  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

Park,  of  Andover;  Rev.  Professor  Tyler,  of  Amherst;  Presi- 
dent Hovey,  of  Newton  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Caswell,  of  Providence ; 
and  Rev.  Professor  Peabody,  of  Cambridge.  Dr.  Robin- 
son, the  President  of  Brown  University,  was  prevented 
by  sickness  from  complying,  as  he  had  promptly  engaged 
to  do,  with  the  request  to  be  present  and  participate. 
The  friendships  and  occupations  of  Dr.  Hackett,  and  the 
Institutions  to  which  he  devoted  his  life,  were  thus  repre- 
sented. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Rollin  H.  Neale,  whose  letter  of  condo- 
lence was  among  the  first  to  reach  Rochester,  offered  a 
tender  and  reverent  prayer,  and  the  hymn,  "Abide  with 
me,"  was  sung.  The  placid  and  life-like  face  was  then 
looked  upon  for  the  last  time  by  many  friends,  and  the 
funeral  train  proceeded  to  the  peaceful  and  attractive 
Newton  Cemetery.  Here  Dr.  Furber  conducted  the 
final  service.  There  were  buried  on  the  casket,  the  passion 
flower  and  the  palms,  the  appropriate  and  united  offering 
of  Professors  Osgood  and  Wilkinson,  of  Rochester,  and  the 
exquisite  wreath,  the  last  offering  of  the  sons.  On  the 
grave  was  deposited  the  wealth  of  floral  tributes  from 
the  students  and  friends  at  Rochester,  and  from  friends 
at  Newton.  And  so,  at  the  end  of  the  beautiful  Novem- 
ber day,  was  left,  "Asleep  in  Jesus,"  the  great  Bible 
scholar. 


Rochester  Theological  Seminary  received  the  munifi- 
cent gift  in  trust,  of  the  chief  part  of  Dr.  Hackett's 
library,  in  the  accumulation  of  which  many  years  and 
thousands    of   dollars   were    spent.      This    bestowal   was 


PERSONAL    CHARACTERISTICS.  I  J?, 

made  by  his  family,  in  token  of  the  pleasant  relations 
of  their  honored  head  to  the  Institution  where  the 
last  years  of  his  life  were  spent.  Its  authorities  have 
honored  his  memory  by  word  and  by  deed. 

Measures  were  at  once  taken  in  the  Seminary,  and 
among  the  Alumni  of  the  preceding  five  years,  to  secure, 
with  the  aid  of  photographs  and  descriptions  of  Dr. 
Hackett,  a  portrait  by  Mr.  Page,  of  New  York,  whose 
fine  painting  of  Dr.  Robinson  hangs  in  the  chapel  of 
Trevor  Hall.  A  few  years  after  Dr.  Haekett's  resigna- 
tion at  Newton,  the  Alumni  of  that  Institution  placed 
his  portrait,  by  Mr.  J.  Harvey  Young,  of  Boston,  among 
those  of  the  patrons  and  professors  in  the  Library  there. 

The  members  of  his  family,  reunited  at  Newtonville, 
which  adjoins  Newton  Centre,  their  former  home,  have 
caused  a  design  to  be  made  for  a  monument,  to  be 
erected  in  the  cemetery  where  he  rests. 

Chaste  as  itself  was  the  nature  of  the  man  whom  the 
marble  will  commemorate.  Delicacy  pervaded  his  being. 
He  was  dignified  in  demeanor,  and  in  his  familiar  con- 
versation ;  the  more  choice  was  with  him  the  instinctive 
phrase,  upon  the  commonest  topics,  as  well  as  with 
the  pen,  and  in  public  address.  He  was  refined  in  all 
his  physical  tastes ;  his  only  marked  predilection  at  the 
table  was  for  fruit. 

His  personal  appearance  indicated  his  fine  organiza- 
tion. In  1858,  as  has  been  seen,  he  was  taken  in  France 
for  a  native  of  the  country.  In  reminiscences  by  the 
Rev.  J.  P.  Bates,  who  studied  at  Rochester,  in  Dr. 
Haekett's  first  year  there,  occurs  the  following  descrip- 
tion :     "His    head    was    not   large,  but   very  round   and 


174  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

plump,  resembling  somewhat  in  this  respect  the  head 
of  Ex-President  Thiers,  of  the  French  Republic,  and 
was  covered  all  over  with  a  fine  growth  of  short,  iron- 
gray  hair.  His  face  was  always  kept  smooth,  like  that 
of  Thiers ;  his  eye  was  small  and  twinkling,  like  that 
of  the  French  historian  and  statesman,  and  both  alike 
wore  glasses." 

As  a  man,  the  modesty  of  Dr.  Hackett  was  equalled 
only  by  his  worth,  and  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held 
by  others.  To  one,  in  very  intimate,  daily  intercourse 
with  him  for  years  before  he  died,  the  companion  of 
his  walks  and  of  his  talks,  ranging  familiarly  over  his 
whole  life  and  times, — who  heard,  for  the  first  time, 
at  his  funeral  in  Newton,  from  Dr.  Park,  of  eulogiums 
by  some  eminent  men  upon  Dr.  Hackett,  and  who 
wrote,  inquiring  if  these  sentiments  of  regard  were 
matters  of  special  record, — Dr.  Park  replied :  "  President 
Felton  and  President  Everett,  used  to  speak  very  highly 
of  Professor  Hackett  to  Professor  Edwards.  I  think 
that  Mr.  Choate  spoke  to  me  very  highly  of  Professor 
Hackett ;  if  not  to  me,  then  to  Professor  Edwards ;  at 
any  rate,  I  told  Professor  Hackett  of  Mr.  Choate's 
encomiums,  but  he  did  not  seem  to  believe  me.  Dr. 
Wayland  spoke  to  me  very  eulogistically  of  Professor 
Hackett.  I  do  not  know  that  any  of  these  gentlemen 
mentioned  him  in  their  writings ;  but  I  know  that  he 
knew  their  opinion  of  him" 

This  memoir  has  testified  to  its  subject's  own  affec- 
tion for  his  friends.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  enumerate 
the  recognitions  of  excellence  and  ability  in  others, 
found  in  his  published  and  unpublished  writings.     These 


THE    SCHOLAR    AND    CHRISTIAN.  I  75 

sensibilities  of  his  nature,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
say,  were  strongly  appealed  to,  in  reading  Newman's 
letter  to  the  biographer  of  Keble,  describing  the  last 
interview  of  Keble,  Pusey  and  Newman,  after  a  separa- 
tion of  twenty  years.  He  considered  it  one  of  the  finest 
pieces  in  the  language,  and  remarked  on  the  degree 
of  culture  required  to  write  such  a  letter. 

As  a  scholar,  Dr.  Hackett  did  his  part  towards  gain- 
ing for  his  country  this  generous  recognition  by  The 
Athaucum :  "The  good  work  done  in  America  is  far  too 
little  known  among  us  ;  the  best  American  scholars  show 
a  truly  German  industry  and  width  both  of  reading  and 
speculation,  while  their  practical  sense  keeps  their  writings 
within  a  reasonable  compass.  In  receptivity  and  enthu- 
siasm for  a  wider  learning,  American  scholars  stand  before 
English."  That  might  be  said  of  his  writings  which  was 
said  of  the  Essays  of  his  friend  and  associate-laborer, 
Professor  Hadley,  in  a  continuation  of  the  above  tribute  : 
"  They  are  marked  by  a  genuine  erudition,  and  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  all  that  has  been  written  on  their  several 
subjects;  but  still  more  striking  is  the  good  judgment 
which  they  show,  and  their  conspicuous  fairness.  Rarely 
have  we  read  books  which  gave  us  so  high  a  conception 
of  the  writer's  whole  nature."  Like  some  noted  men  of 
letters,  Dr.  Hackett  wrote  much  of  what  made  up  his 
life  into  his  books  and  articles,  but  how  healthily 
was  his  life  drawn  out  by  his  studies  and  his  travels, 
towards  highest  realities,  of  universal  and  lasting  impor- 
tance !  Their  record  is  ever  marked  by  high  thought 
and  worthy  emotion,  as  well  as  by  sound  knowl- 
edge,    and     trustworthy    statement.      What    a     contrast 


I  76  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

between  his  cautious  presentation  of  facts,  and  the  bril- 
liant, dogmatic  Ewald's  "  jumping  at  fancied  perfect 
theory,"  which  vitiates  so  much  of  the  work  of  his  life  ! 

As  a  Christian,  it  has  been  well  said  of  Dr.  Hackett, 
in  an  account  of  the  peace  which  came  through  his 
ministrations,  to  a  troubled  believer,  his  friend,  Judge 
Fletcher,  "  This  clear  apprehension  of  salvation  by  a 
suffering  Saviour,  marked  Dr.  Hackett's  entire  Christian 
life." 

This  memorial  cannot  better  close  than  with  the  words 
of  one  very  dear  to  its  subject, — words  apposite  to  the 
removal  of  such  men  as  their  author  and  his  friend, 
Edwards  and   Hackett : 

"  When  the  wise  and  good  are  taken  from  the  earth, 
their  surviving  fellow-disciples  may  well  obtain  a  more 
impressive  idea  of  the  reality  of  Christian  communion,  of 
the  living  links  which  still  bind  them  to  all  who  have 
won  the  prize,  or  who  are  yet  on  the  field  of  conflict.  If 
the  grave  is  becoming  populous,  so  is  the  region  of  life 
and  light  beyond  its  confines.  Ten  thousand  chords  of 
sympathy,  invisible  except  to  the  eye  of  faith,  connect 
our  world  with  that  better  land.  In  one  sense,  it  is  be- 
coming less  and  less  unknown.  The  distance  diminishes 
as  the  avenues  are  multiplying,  along  which  throng  holy 
desires,  earnest  sympathies,  longing  aspirations.  The 
illumined  eye  can,  occasionally,  gain  glimpses  of  its  cloud- 
less horizon  ;  the  quick  ear  catch  a  few  notes  of  its 
invitations  of  welcome.  That  is  not  the  world  of  doubts 
and  phantoms.  It  is,  by  eminence,  the  land  of  life,  and 
of  conscious  existence.  Its  happy  shores  are  even  now 
thronged  by  earthly  natures,  perfected  in  love,  happy  in 


WORDS    OF    PROFESSOR    EDWARDS.  IJJ 

final  exemption  from  sin ;  who  still,  from  the  very  neces- 
sity of  the  sympathizing  remembrances  with  which  their 
bosoms  overflow,  cast  down  looks  of  loving  solicitude  to 
their  old  friends  and  companions,  and  would,  if  it  were 
possible,  break  the  mysterious  silence,  and  utter  audible 
voices  of  encouragement,  and  reach  forth  signals  of 
welcome.  These,  in  the  view  of  faith,  are  undoubted 
realities,  facts  which  have  a  stable  foundation,  truths  most 
comprehensive  and  fruitful,  the  distant  contemplation  of 
which  ennobles  the  soul,  and  fits  it  for  its  long-desired 
and  blessed  society.  This,  therefore,  is  one  of  the  uses  of 
these  dispensations, — to  give  new  vigor  to  faith,  a  fresh 
reality  to  that  communion  of  which  Christ  is  the  source 
and  the  centre ;  to  enable  one  to  feel  that,  however  weak 
and  unworthy  he  may  be,  he  is  still  a  citizen  of  a  mighty 
commonwealth,  an  inmate  of  an  imperial  household,  con- 
nected by  bonds,  over  which  chance  and  time  and  death 
have  no  power,  with  those  who  are  now  pillars  in  the 
temple  of  God." 

Heaven  has  an  added  attraction  in  thy  presence,  dear 
Friend  and  Teacher,  joined  to  the  new  Communion  of 
Saints. 


13 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES. 


AT  ROCHESTER,  NOVEMBER    5,  1875. 


ADDRESS    OF    DR.    STRONG.  l8l 


ADDRESS  OF  REV.  A.  H.  STRONG,  D.  D., 

PRESIDENT     AND     PROFESSOR    OF    THEOLOGY,    IN     THE 
ROCHESTER    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY. 

The  hushed  and  intense  silence  of  this  funeral-scene  is 
not  without  a  meaning.  We  recognize  by  instinct  the 
limits  of  the  earthly,  and  standing  upon  its  verge,  we  wait 
for  some  voice  from  beyond  the  darkness  and  the  shadow. 
Human  words  are  well,  but  now  we  listen  for  some  word 
of  God  from  the  solemn  quietudes  and  the  eternal  spaces 
into  which  our  teacher  and  friend  has  vanished — some 
word  that  may  tell  us  where  and  how  the  spirit  fares  that 
a  few  days  since  was  with  us,  but,,  now  is  not. 

How  fully  this  great  need  is  met  by  Scripture  !  As  we 
wait  and  listen,  we  too  "hear  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying 
unto  us,  'Write,  blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the 
Lord,  from  henceforth ;  yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they 
may  rest  from  their  labors ;  and  their  works  do  follow 
them.'"  No  interval  of  blank  unconsciousness  —  no 
doubt  as  to  their  felicity  —  no  interruption  of  their  work 
for  Christ.  Activity,  service,  these  have  not  ceased.  But 
labor,  with  its  painfullness  and  sighing,  its  weakness  and 
fear,  this  has  ceased,  because  in  the  perfect  union  of  the 
soul  with  its  glorified  Lord,  all  the  imperfection  and  sin 
from  which  it  springs  have  been  done  away  forever.  Into 
that  rest  of  pure,  rapturous  and  enlarged  activity,  the  freed 
soul  has  entered. 

And  shall  the  long  toil  of  the  earthly  life  go  for  noth- 
ing, now  that  the  soul  is  sundered  from  the  body  ?     Ah, 


1 82  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

no  !  The  good  men  do  is  not  "  interred  with. their  bones." 
It  rises  clear-voiced  before  God's  throne.  It  witnesses  to 
the  reality  and  power  of  Christ's  life  in  those  who  wrought 
it.  "  By  their  deeds  they  shall  be  justified,"  not  because 
these  furnish  the  ground  of  their  acceptance  and  reward, 
but  because  these  deeds  make  manifest  to  the  universe 
the  fact  that  "  God  was  in  them  of  a  truth." 

Nor  shall  these  good  deeds  be  lost  on  earth.  "Their 
works  shall  follow  them,"  even  here.  Embalmed  in  the 
memory  of  their  children  and  of  the  church,  they  shall 
continue  their  influence  of  blessing,  all  the  more  precious 
and  powerful  for  good  now  that  the  heart  that  prompted 
them  is  still  and  pulseless  in  the  dust.  And  when  the 
memory  of  their  work  shall  fade  on  earth,  and  the  last 
survivors  of  those  who  knew  them  shall  be  gathered  to 
their  fathers,  God  will  not  permit  its  fruits  to  die.  No  ! 
no  !  There  is  a  memory  that  never  lets  go  that  which  is 
committed  to  it ;  there  is  a  hand  that  never  ceases  to  tend 
and  water  the  seeds  of  its  own  planting  ;  there  is  a  divine 
pride  and  justice  that  never  suffers  the  earthly  work  of 
His  departed  servants  to  go  unfruitful  or  unrewarded. 
God  takes  up  that  work  after  the  workers  are  dead,  and 
carries  it  on.  Through  a  thousand  means  of  spoken  word 
or  living  example,  the  influence  they  have  exerted  multi- 
plies as  it  goes  down  through  the  ages.  The  works  of 
the  righteous  follow  them,  ever  increasing  in  weight  and 
power  as  they  go  onward,  like  the  balls  of  moist  snow 
which  school-boys  roll  upon  the  ground  in  early  winter, 
until,  in  the  great  day  of  account,  those  who  did  them  are 
amazed  at  the  surpassing  grandeur  of  the  result,  and 
gazing  at  the  vastness  of  the  harvest  which  has  sprung 


ADDRESS    OF    DR.    STRONG.  1 8 


J 


from  the  small  seeds  they  sowed,  they  call  to  the  Judge : 
"  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered,  or  athirst,  or  did 
anything  worthy  of  such  abundant  fruit ! " 

It  is  only  doing  our  part  in  fulfilling  the  declaration  of 
Scripture,  it  is  only  performing  a  sacred  duty  to  those 
who  are  left  behind,  when  we  speak  to-day  of  the  work 
and  the  character  of  a  departed  father  and  teacher  in 
Israel.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  glorify  the  name  of  man. 
The  funeral-day  is  the  day  on  which  to  recognize  chiefly 
the  sovereignty  and  grace  of  God.  And  he  whose  mortal 
remains  lie  before  us,  would  have  been  the  last  to  desire 
any  other  use  of  this  occasion.  We  will  not  deal  in 
eulogy.  We  give  only  a  brief  and  simple  memorial  of 
one  whose  life  and  labors  have  become  an  inseparable 
part  of  the  history  of  Biblical  learning  in  America  and 
in  the  world,  and  we  do  this  not  for  the  praise  of  man, 
but  for  the  glory  of  God's  grace  and  for  a  testimony  to 
those  who  come  after. 

With  the  second  quarter  of  the  present  century,  there 
commenced,  both  upon  the  continent  and  in  English- 
speaking  lands,  a  reaction  against  the  rationalism  that  had 
for  so  long  a  time  poisoned  and  enfeebled  the  science  of 
Scripture  interpretation.  Neander,  Tholuck  and  Winer, 
in  the  several  departments  of  history,  exegesis  and  gram- 
mar, were  showing  the  possibility  of  combining  a 
scientific  accuracy  with  a  more  evangelical  faith — nay,  of 
delivering  these  several  provinces  of  knowledge  from  the 
despoiling  hands  of  a  sceptical  philosophy,  by  the  very 
means  of  that  believing  spirit  which  the  so-called  philos- 
ophy despised.  A  new  vitality  and  power  was  felt  to 
pervade  the  Scriptures.     New  confidence  was  put  in  their 


184  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

accuracy  of  detail.  The  old  apologies  for  Paul's  slipshod 
use  of  one  Greek  adjective  or  preposition,  when  he  meant 
another,  were  shown  to  be  wholly  gratuitous.  And  upon 
the  basis  of  a  rigid  and  exhaustive  grammatical  and 
lexical  analysis,  the  fair  edifice  of  the  nineteenth  century 
exegesis  and  theology  was  built. 

The  new  faith  in  Scripture  and  devotion  to  its  study 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  found  an  impersonation  in 
Moses  Stuart  of  Andover.  His  incredible  industry  and 
contagious  enthusiasm  roused  in  this  country  a  new  love 
for  Biblical  studies.  One  of  his  pupils,  however,  who 
drank  in,  like  a  kindred  spirit,  his  impassioned  zeal  for 
research  and  for  teaching,  went  further  than  his  master. 
Horatio  B.  Hackett  betook  himself  to  the  German 
sources  of  knowledge,  and  above  all  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment original,  felt  himself  compelled  to  adopt  the  Baptist 
faith  as  the  result,  and  with  an  exacter  scholarship  than 
that  of  Stuart,  made  himself  for  a  whole  half  century, 
the  Nestor  and  leader  of  Greek  exegesis  in  a  denomina- 
tion, which,  during  that  same  period,  grew  from  half  the 
number,  till  it  counted  a  million  and  three-quarters  of 
souls.  This,  as  it  seems  to  us,  was  the  significance  of 
Dr.  Hackett's  position  and  work.  Chase,  and  Conant, 
and  Kendrick,  were  laboring  with  a  like  aim  in  related 
departments,  but  it  was  Dr.  Hackett,  who,  more  than 
any  other  man,  formed  the  spirit  and  led  the  distinctive 
work  of  exact  and  believing  study  of  New  Testament 
Greek  in  a  great  body  of  Christians,  which,  partly  by 
reason  of  this  same  progress  in  knowledge  and  love 
of  the  word  of  God,  raised  themselves  during  his  life- 
time   from    numerical    weakness    to    numerical    power. 


ADDRESS    OF    DR.    STRUNG.  1 85 

He  taught  the  teachers  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Christians  throughout  the  land.  And  though  many 
threads  of  human  influence  are  woven  together  in  the 
fabric  of  our  denominational  progress,  we  are  safe  in 
saying  that  our  position  in  intelligence  and  influence 
to-day,  is  in  large  part  the  result  of  the  life  and  work 
of  Horatio  B.  Hackett. 

But  the  influence  of  his  work  extended  beyond  the 
bounds  of  our  denomination,  even  as  his  sympathies 
and  aims  were  broadly  Christian,  rather  than  sectarian. 
One  of  the  most  thorough  scholars  and  one  of  the 
ablest  men  of  the  Congregational  body  said  to  me  some 
years  ago,  that  he  regarded  Dr.  Hackett  as  the  best 
Biblical  scholar  that  wrote  in  the  English  language. 
A  recent  English  work  upon  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
mentions  Dr.  Hackett's  Commentary  as  the  best  work 
accessible  to  the  English  student.  Dr.  Westcott,  the 
noted  English  writer  upon  the  canon  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, said  recently  in  a  private  letter,  that  he  had 
discarded  the  English  edition  of  the  Bible  Dictionary 
in  order  to  replace  it  by  Dr.  Hackett's.  In  Germany, 
also,  his  works  have  been  quoted  and  commended  by 
scholars  of  the  highest  rank,  and  by  many  of  these 
scholars  Dr.  Hackett  was  reckoned  as  a  correspondent 
and  friend.  No  man  can  hold  a  place  like  this,  without 
influencing  the  Christian  thought  of  the  age,  and  by 
just  so  much  as  the  progress  of  the  church  is  dependent 
upon  correct  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  by  just 
so  much  must  the  work  of  our  departed  friend  be  re- 
garded as  having  intimate  connections  with  the  general 
power  of  the  universal  church  of  Christ  in  this  last 
generation  of  the  history  of  the  world. 


1 86  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

This  is  much  to  say  of  the  life  and  work  of  a  scholar 
whom  the  outside  world  knows  almost  nothing  of.  But  it 
is  the  Christian  estimate.  It  takes  account  of  God's  ordi- 
nation of  conspiring  influences,  and  his  weaving  the 
thread  of  his  servant's  life  into  the  life  of  the  church 
and  of  the  time.  Providentially  and  by  his  own  de- 
liberate purpose  he  was  fitted  for  his  work.  What  were 
the  characteristics  of  the  teacher  and  the  man,  that  gave 
him  his  place  and  his  influence  ?  I  say  the  teacher  and 
the  man — but  the  two  were  one  and  inseparable.  Of 
few  men  can  it  be  said,  with  equal  truth,  that  all  there 
was  of  faculty  and  energy,  even  to  the  uttermost  fancy 
and  feeling,  was  thrown  into  the  work  appointed  him. 
With  him  there  was  no  side-life,  no  dallying  with  minor 
interests.  That  face  so  grave,  benignant,  just — that 
form  so  proportioned,  compact,  true — showed,  even  in 
the  most  casual  conversation,  no  signs  of  trifling.  "  One 
thing  I  do,"  seemed  written  out  in  the  very  intent  com- 
posure of  the  man.  He  was  buried  in  his  work  of  study- 
ing and  interpreting  the  word  of  God.  And  to  many 
and  many  a  student,  that  example  of  a  high  intellect 
that  bent  itself  with  ever  new  avidity  and  delight  to 
exploration  of  the  treasures  of  the  Bible,  has  given  a 
new  and  inextinguishable  sense  of  the  infinite  reaches 
and  the  priceless  value  of  God's  revelation. 

He  might  have  had  this  singleness  of  aim  without 
being  the  teacher  that  he  was.  But  he  added  to  this, 
certain  teacherly  qualifications  which  must  not  be  un- 
spoken to-day  ;  and,  first  of  all,  the  discipline  and  the 
habit  of  exhaustive  investigation.  Sometime  a  man 
must  gain  this,  or  he  never  makes  a  scholar.     And  one 


ADDRESS    OF    DR.    STRONG.  1 87 

of  the  great  blessings  of  God  to  a  student,  is  the  sight 
and  contaet  of  a  teacher  who  presents  in  himself  a  model 
of  absolute  thoroughness ;  who  anatomises  his  subject — 
brain,  skeleton,  viscera  and  heart ;  who,  like  Sir  William 
Hamilton,  aims  before  writing,  to  master  every  valuable 
word  that  has  been  written  upon  his  theme  since  the 
world  began ;  who  candidly  recognizes  every  difficulty 
and  weighs  every  objection  ;  who  leaves  no  stone  un- 
turned, if  he  may  find,  perchance,  some  new  illustration 
that  will  help  to  clear  or  impress  what  he  conceives 
after  long  toil  and  inquiry  to  be  the  truth.  Such  a  man 
was  the  instructor  whom  we  knew.  He  had  drunk  in 
Greek  in  his  very  early  boyhood ;  he  had  made  it  a 
living  tongue  to  him  by  teaching  its  classics  at  Amherst 
and  Providence,  and  by  talking  it  with  the  boatmen 
of  the  Piraeus  and  the  shop-keepers  of  Athens  ;  the 
rhythm  and  grace  of  it  had  entered  into  his  brain  and 
blood.  Travel  had  made  the  scenes  of  Scripture  vivid 
realities  to  him  ;  he  could  interpret  the  ninetieth  Psalm 
from  his  own  experience  in  the  solitudes  of  the  desert, 
and  the  triumphal  entry  of  Jesus,  in  Matthew,  from  his 
own  surprise  and  exultation  as  he  rounded  the  edge  of 
Olivet,  and  caught  the  glorious  view  of  Jerusalem,  once 
the  holy,  now  the  profaned  and  desolate  city.  German,  he 
learned  in  Germany  itself,  and  the  great  works  of  the 
German  critical  scholarship,  he  daily  used  more  con- 
stantly and  naturally  than  English.  But  these  were  only 
the  preparations  for  his  work.  Elaborate  and  compre- 
hensive review  of  all  the  important  literature  bearing 
upon  the  subject  under  investigation,  was  followed  by 
cautious,  prolonged  and  original    thought,    and    in    this, 


1 88  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

the  penetrating  mind,  the  suspended  judgment,  the  final, 
clear  decision,  showed  him  the  master. 

This  was  the  spirit  which  he  strove  to  arouse  within 
his  pupils — the  spirit  of  minute,  critical,  exhaustive  Scrip- 
ture study.  Non  unilta,  sed  multum.  Not  to  go  over  all 
Scripture  in  a  year,  but  to  teach  men  what  it  was  to  study 
a  few  passages  well ;  to  convince  them  that  every  phrase 
had  a  meaning,  definite  and  single — a  meaning  that  could 
be  accurately  ascertained  and  clearly  expressed  according 
to  fixed  and  settled  laws  of  human  speech ;  above  all,  that 
every  word  of  God  had  a  meaning  which  was  worth  all 
the  study  that  the  best-trained  mind  could  put  upon  it, 
this  was  his  one  great  lesson  to  successive  companies  of 
students  for  forty  years.  If  this  had  been  the  bookworm- 
ish  and  exaggerated  devotion  of  a  life-time  to  trifles  like 
the  markings  of  diatoms,  it  would  have  merited  little 
praise.  But  it  had  its  foundation  and  explanation  in  a 
reverent  regard  for  divine  revelation,  that  on  the  one 
hand  would  not  brook  a  mystical  importation  of  human 
fancies  into  the  sacred  text,  and  on  the  other  hand  would 
not  permit  the  smallest  Greek  article  or  conjunction  to 
be  treated  as  an  idle  or  ambiguous  thing  in  that  word 
which  "holy  men  of  old  wrote  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost." 

Exegetical  science  has  made  steady  progress  since  Dr. 
Hackett  began  to  teach.  The  old  mystical  and  homileti- 
cal  method  that  prevailed  in  England  fifty  years  ago, 
contemporaneously  with  the  rationalistic  methods  of  Ger- 
many, has  given  place  to  a  more  thoughtful  and  just 
inquiry  into  the  actual  meaning  of  Scripture.  The  gram- 
matical   and    lexical   method  which   succeeded,  and   the 


ADDRESS    OF    DR.    STRONG.  1 89 

possibilities  of  which  our  departed  friend  so  nobly 
illustrated,  has  itself  been  modified  and  broadened  by 
Godet  and  Philippi,  by  Lightfoot  and  Perowne.  We 
seem  just  about  to  enter  upon  a  new  era  of  Scripture 
comment,  in  which  the  word  of  God  is  to  be  interpreted 
not  as  a  congeries  of  parts,  but  as  an  organic  whole  with 
a  living  unity.  But  historical  and  doctrinal  interpretation, 
which  Dr.  Hackett  conceived  to  belong  not  so  much  to 
his  department  as  to  that  of  theology,  presupposes  the 
grammatical  and  lexical,  and  would  be  impossible  but  for 
just  such  work  as  Dr.  Hackett  did.  How  faithful  to  that 
work  he  was,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  after  forty 
years  of  teaching,  he  never  went  to  his  class  without  a 
new  investigation  and  revision  of  the  lesson  for  the  hour. 
One  other  most  distinguishing  characteristic  of  his,  was 
his  faculty  of  terse,  vivid  and  eloquent  exposition.  He 
knew  something  of  the  heights  and  depths  of  the  English 
language,  and  he  never  failed  to  use  it,  even  in  his  un- 
premeditated talk,  with  a  curious  accuracy  and  a  delicate 
sense  of  light  and  shade,  that  invested  even  the  com- 
monest subjects  with  a  charm,  and  left  in  many  hearers' 
minds  the  feeling  of  an  untraversable  chasm  between  his 
culture  and  their  own,  while  it  stimulated  the  discerning- 
to  new  care  of  their  common  speech.  Yet  this  was  at  a 
world-wide  remove  from  all  pedantry  or  affectation.  It 
was  the  limpid  bubbling  of  a  fountain  of  sweet  waters, 
that  all  unconscious  of  itself  must  flow,  and  purely  flow, 
if  it  flow  at  all.  In  his  early  days,  he  had  drunk  deep  at 
those  old  "wells  of  English  undeflled,"  that  are  so  nearly 
deserted  now.  His  keen  critical  mind  detected  and 
rejected,  with  almost  chemical  alertness,  both  the  vague 


I90  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

and  the  rude  in  expression.  He  knew  the  value  of  time, 
and  had  learned  the  secret  of  style.  He  cultivated  brevity 
and  vigor  of  statement,  in  order  to  economise  attention, 
and  get  the  most  that  was  possible  into  the  written  para- 
graph or  into  the  passing  hour.  His  questioning  in  the 
class-room,  was  sharp  and  rapid,  and  perfectly  unambiguous. 
And  when  he  soared,  as  he  often  did,  it  was  as  if  the 
prophetic  fire  of  the  sacred  writer  he  expounded  had 
flashed  into  his  own  breast  and  he  himself  were  caught 
up  in  spirit.  It  was  no  rhapsody  or  long  drawn  digression 
that  he  indulged  in,  but  a  powerful  picturing  of  the  scene 
or  the  circumstances  or  the  thought  or  the  emotion,  of 
evangelist  or  apostle,  in  the  composition  of  the  very 
words  under  consideration.  No  man  has  lived,  in  America 
at  least,  who  has  been  able  so  vividly  to  impress  the  most 
minute  and  recondite  indications  of  the  Greek  original 
upon  the  minds  of  New  Testament  students.  Again  and 
again  have  his  classes  found  themselves  gazing  at  him 
with  open  mouths — lost  themselves  and  he  lost  also — in 
intense  contemplation  of  the  truth  wrapped  up  in  some 
Greek  particle  and  now  for  the  first  time  unfolded  before 
them.  The  piece  of  fire-works  unlighted,  and  the  piece 
of  fire-works  burning,  are  no  more  different,  than  Dr. 
Hackett  in  his  quiet  moods,  and  Dr.  Hackett  kindled 
and  glowing  in  his  exposition  of  the  Scripture. 

During  the  war,  it  became  his  duty  to  give  the  parting- 
address  to  the  graduating  class  at  Newton.  They  were 
going  forth  in  a  time  of  great  needs  and  of  great  ex- 
amples. In  the  silence  of  his  study  Dr.  Hackett  had 
followed  our  armies,  and  his  whole  soul  was  with  the 
brave  men  struggling,  wounded,  dying,  in  the  field.     He 


ADDRESS    OF    DR.    STRONG.  191 

urged  the  graduates  to  be  men  of  like  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  God.  And  as  he  spoke,  one  of  his  raptures  of 
eloquence  came  upon  him,  and  the  whole  assembly  were 
swept  and  bowed  by  his  intense  and  flaming  appeals.  A 
man  possessed  of  such  godlike  faculty  of  speech,  and 
using  it  every  day  for  two  scores  of  years  to  awaken 
enthusiasm  in  the  study  of  the  original  Scriptures,  is  a  very 
ofift  of  God  to  those  who  hear  him.  He  has  stimulated 
many  an  apathetic  soul  into  thought,  and  though  he 
would  have  called  himself  no  orator,  many  and  many 
a  man  has  caught  the  spirit  of  true  pulpit  oratory  from 
him. 

When  I  add  to  these  two  a  last  characteristic,  I  feel 
that  it  is  the  crown  of  all— I  mean  his  "  modest  stillness 
and  humility."  A  natural  shrinking  from  publicity,  a 
constant  consciousness  of  his  imperfections,  a  child  like 
casting  of  himself  at  the  feet  of  Christ,  his  Saviour — these 
were  so  marked  that  they  prevented  most  people  from 
knowing1  him  at  all,  while  those  who  did  know  him,  knew 
him  in  these  aspects  best.  His  own  low  appreciation  of 
his  work,  led  him  to  regard  almost  as  pleasantry  the  praise 
that  sometimes  was  lavished  on  him.  At  other  times,  his 
friends  feared  to  intrude  even  their  gratitude  upon  a  mind 
that  seemed  so  far  from  the  thought  of  self.  He  was 
always  ready  to  confess  ignorance.  Sometimes  he  timidly 
confessed  it,  when  he  knew  far  more  upon  the  subject  in 
question,  than  the  person  who  offered  to  inform  him. 
With  a  peculiarly  nervous  temperament,  that  made  him 
exceedingly  sensitive  to  interruption,  and  an  absorption 
of  mind  in  his  proper  work,  that  left  but  little  time  to 
think  of  matters  of  common  life,  he  was  sometimes  per- 


IQ2  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

plexed  and  ruffled,  but  he  was  just  as  sensitive  to  kindness, 
and  there  were  times  when  he  showed  the  very  tenderness 
of  a  woman.  How  utterly  devoid  of  ostentation  or  forth- 
putting  or  self-seeking  he  was !  With  gifts  that  made 
him  at  times  a  very  prince  of  talkers,  it  was  only  at  inter- 
vals of  years  that  he  could  be  induced  to  speak  in  public. 
He  prayed  at  our  chapel  service,  and  his  pupils  gained 
new  views  of  sin,  when  they  heard  Dr.  Hackett  humbling 
himself  and  taking  upon  his  lips  the  words  of  the  publi- 
can :  "God  be  merciful  to  me,  the  sinner."  They  gained 
new  views  of  Christian  service,  when  they  heard  him 
laying  all  his  work  as  an  unworthy  offering  at  the  feet  of 
Him  who  died  for  us.  Dear  whitened  head  !  how  many 
lessons  it  has  taught  us  of  unselfishness  and  humility. 
Thank  God,  he  knows  now,  that  his  labor  and  his  life 
were  "  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord." 

Only  this  last  summer  he  visited  his  old  haunts  in  Ger- 
many, and  revived  some  of  his  cherished  acquaintances  of 
former  days.  He  talked  with  M tiller  and  Tholuck.  He 
brought  back  the  scissors  and  the  paper-weight  last  used 
by  Meyer,  and  presented  to  him  by  his  daughter-in-law. 
The  companionship  of  an  old  friend  made  the  journey 
delightful.  He  returned  to  his  work  possessed  apparently 
of  a  new  vitality  and  spirit.  On  the  very  morning  that 
he  died,  he  prayed  in  his  family,  that,  if  it  were  God's  will, 
the  members  of  it  might  be  long  spared  to  each  other. 
But  God's  ways  are  not  as  our  ways.  Three  days  ago  he 
met  his  class  in  the  lecture-room,  but  a  sudden  pain  seized 
him,  and  he  suspended  the  exercise.  He  walked  to  his 
home,  and  there  in  his  own  bed,  in  a  short  half-hour,  he 
breathed  his  life  away,  so  softly,  that  those  who  stood  by 


ADDRESS    OF    DR.    STRONG.  I  93 

hardly  knew  when  he  was  gone.  It  was  dying  without 
the  long  agony  of  sickness.  Unconscious  as  he  was,  it 
was  virtually  an  instant  transportation  from  the  world  of 
anxious  desire,  and,  at  the  best,  of  unsatisfied  hopes,  to  the 
joy  of  his  Lord,  and  the  untroubled  rest  and  inconceivable 
reward  of  the  faithful.  It  was  sudden  death,  but  it  was 
sudden  glory. 

With  the  family  toward  whom  he  cherished  so  tender 
an  affection,  with  the  members  of  this  institution  who  so 
loved  him,  with  the  great  company  of  ministers  and 
scholars  throughout  the  land  who  revered  him  as  a  teacher 
and  a  father,  there  is  mourning  to-day.  From  the  east 
many  friends  of  olden  time  have  sent  their  letters  of 
condolence,  and  from  the  distant  state  of  Indiana,  the 
Convention  of  Baptists  there  assembled  unite  in  a  tele- 
graphic expression  of  sympathy.  We  have  few  such  men 
to  lose.  But  let  us  not  murmur,  nor  mourn  as  those  who 
are  without  hope.  God's  purpose  and  wisdom  are  in  this 
affliction — his  will  be  done !  God  has  blessed  the  earth 
with  his  life — let  us  be  thankful !  God  will  care  for  his 
family  and  for  the  Institution  to  which  he  gave  his  last 
labors — let  us  trust  those  infinite  resources  of  power  and 
grace  that  for  a  little  time  gave  him  to  us !  Nothing  in 
this  world  is  too  good  to  die  ;  earthly  friends  and  teachers 
and  leaders  fall ;  but  the  glorious  Gospel  lives,  and  Christ 
lives,  to  put  all  things,  even  death  itself,  under  his  feet. 
Ah  !  the  revelation  is  better  still,  for  Christ  himself  has 
said  to  us,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life ;  he  that 
believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live ; 
and  he  that  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die." 

Let  us  not  then  talk  of  death — it  is  life  into  which  our 
14 


194  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

beloved  friend  has  entered.  And  since  life  to  him  meant 
work,  I  cannot  think  of  him  as  enjoying  or  as  praising 
only.  That  intent  and  studious  mind  is  surely  busy  some- 
where. He  did  good  work  for  God  here — but  he  will  do 
better  work  for  God  there,  as  he  uses  his  now  ransomed 
powers  perfectly  and  only  for  the  glory  of  his  Redeemer. 
And  so  we  lay  these  palm-branches  upon  his  coffin,  with 
the  floral  cross  and  crown.  They  are  poor  and  mute,  yet 
true  testimonies,  of  our  unending  affection  and  remem- 
brance. But  they  are  more.  They  are  symbols  of  the 
cross  in  which  he  trusted  and  of  the  joy  to  which  the 
cross  has  led  him — the  kingly  diadem  and  the  victor's 
palm  ! 


ADDRESS    OF    STUDENTS.  195 


ADDRESS  ADOPTED  BY  THE  STUDENTS 

OF    THE     ROCHESTER    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY,    AND    READ 
BY    MR.    A.    JUDSON    BARRETT,    AT    THE    FUNERAL 
OF    THE    REV.    DR.    HACKETT,    ROCHES- 
TER,   NOVEMBER    5,    1875. 

We  sit  in  the  shadow  of  a  great  sorrow.  Our  teacher, 
our  friend,  our  father  is  dead.  Dr.  Hackett's  voice  is 
hushed  forever.  And,  though  there  remains  to  us  the 
sweet  recollection  of  his  noble  life,  ever  present  with 
us  as  a  moulding  influence,  yet  it  is  not  in  the  power 
of  words  to  express  the  sense  of  loss  we  feel.  The 
bereavement  is  personal  to  us  all. 

He  needs  no  eulogy  at  our  hands,  for  his  name  is 
a  household  word  wherever  learning  and  religion  have  their 
seat  the  wide  world  over.  But  not  all  the  world  have 
felt  the  throbbing  of  his  great  heart,  nor  experienced 
the  quickening  power  of  his  saintly  life,  as  have  we, 
who  have  so  often  met  him  as  our  teacher,  counselor 
and  friend.  He  has  been  to  us  an  inspiration,  his  every- 
day life  a  prophecy  of  heaven,  his  simple,  child-like 
trust,  the  surest  sign  and  noblest  crown  of  disciple- 
ship.  And  so  before  the  Providence  that  has  taken 
him  from  us  we  stand  dumb,  and  in  mute  grief  pour 
out  our  souls  in  prayer  for  light,  and  strength,  and  trust. 
We  reverently  approach  his  bier,  and  while  we  place 
thereon  fresh  flowers,  emblems  at  once  of  the  purity 
of  his   life,  and  of  the  fadeless   chaplet   that  now   decks 


I96  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

his  brow,  how  tumultuous  the  tide  of  affection  that 
swells  in  all  our  hearts,  and  how  resistless  the  waves 
of  sorrow  that  surge  back  upon  us  when  we  remember 
that  never  again  shall  we  see  his  face,  or  hear  his  voice, 
or  feel  the  magic  power  of  his  revered  presence. 

But  if  to  us,  who  have  met  him  as  students  only,  the 
loss  appears  so  great,  how  severe  must  be  the  stroke 
to  that  household  in  which  he  was  not  only  the  genial 
light,  but  the  great  pillar  of  strength,  and  the  refuge 
amid  the  tempests  of  life. 

To  the  family  he  so  dearly  loved  we  tender  our  un- 
affected sympathy,  not  obtrusively,  not  with  cold  for- 
mality, but  with  a  sensitive  regard  for  the  sacredness 
of  the  grief,  and  the  hallowed  memories  that  start  at 
the  mention  of  his  name.  We  beg,  dear  friends,  the 
sacred  privilege  of  sitting  with  you  as  sincere  mourners 
in  a  common  bereavement.  May  the  kind  Heavenly 
Father,  who  does  not  willingly  afflict,  abide  with  you 
and  with  us,  shedding  light  where  now  is  darkness,  joy 
where  now  is  sorrow. 

A.  J.  Barrett. 

H.  L.  House. 

P.  S.  Moxom. 

G.  N.  Thomssen. 

Committee. 


REMARKS    BY    DR.    ANDERSON,  1 97 


REMARKS  BY  MARTIN  B.  ANDERSON,  LL.  D. 

PRESIDENT    OF    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    ROCHESTER. 


PREFATORY    NOTE. 
Dear  Sir  : — 

At  the  funeral  of  Dr.  Hackett  I  had  time  to  utter  but  a  few 
words,  and  these  I  cannot  now  recall.  In  compliance  with  your 
request  I  send  you  a  few  memoranda  of  the  impression  which  he 
has  left  on  my  mind,  as  a  teacher  and  a  friend. 

Yours  truly, 

M.  B.  ANDERSON. 
Prof.  Whittemore. 


DR.    HACKETT    AS    A    TEACHER. 

Dr.  Hackett  was  favored  in  being  called  home  to 
his  reward,  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  mind.  When 
he  passed  away  his  great  attainments  were  under  his 
full  control.  His  eye  had  not  lost  its  fire.  His  voice 
had  not  lost  its  power  to  arouse  and  compel  attention. 
His  lofty  enthusiasm  for  truth  had  not  suffered  the 
least  abatement.  No  sad  interval  of  physical  decay  in- 
tervened between  life  and  death.  We  recall  him  in  the 
full  activity  of  his  brilliant  mind  and  associate  him  with 
the  wealth  of  his  ripest  scholarship.  We  are  as  yet  too 
near  him  whom  we  knew,  and  loved,  to  make  an  ade- 
quate analysis  of   the   elements  which  entered  into  the 


I98  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

formation  of  his  mind  and  specially  marked  the  type 
of  his  scholarship.  Very  little  need  be  said  by  me,  how- 
ever, after  the  elaborate  and  appreciative  review  of  his 
life,  prepared  by  Dr.  Strong. 

We  may  best  understand  the  man  from  the  work 
which  he  did.  Few  men  have  been  so  identified  in 
heart  and  mind  with  their  work  in  life,  as  was  our 
departed  friend.  All  his  impulses,  tastes  and  capacities, 
found  their  natural  career  and  fullest  play  in  the  duties 
to  which  he  was  called.  His  intellectual  life  is  a  marked 
illustration  also,  of  the  advantage  of  concentration  of 
purpose.  Most  American  teachers  are  compelled  to 
work  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  outside  of  the  range 
of  their  tastes  and  special  capacities.  They  are  often 
compelled  to  divide  their  energies  between  several  de- 
partments of  inquiry,  or  to  dissipate  them  in  the  ex- 
hausting practical  duties  incident  to  the  function  of 
pioneers  in  education.  Dr.  Hackett  early  recognized 
his  special  work,  as  indicated  by  his  tastes  and  powers, 
and  was  able  to  devote  to  it  the  time  and  force  of  his 
entire  life.  He  recognized,  as  few  scholars  have,  the 
application  to  literary  work,  of  the  economical  principle 
of  division  of  labor.  Though  an  able  Hebrew  scholar, 
and  in  his  early  years  a  teacher  of  that  language,  of 
unrivalled  efficiency,  he  sought  the  earliest  opportunity 
to  withdraw  from  the  study  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  de- 
vote his  entire  energies  to  New  Testament  interpretation. 

An  American,  laboring  afar  from  authoritative  Manu- 
scripts, he  did  not  attempt  to  become  an  expert  in 
textual  criticism.  He  assumed  with  intelligent  and 
cautious  judgment,  the  recensions  of  the  great   masters 


REMARKS    15 Y    DR.    ANDERSON.  1 99 

in  this  department,  and  gave  his  undivided  attention 
to  the  grammar  and  lexicography  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment Greek.  For  this  end,  he  studied  all  the  forms 
of  Greek  literature,  ancient  and  modern,  with  reference 
to  the  light  they  might  throw  upon  the  construction 
of  the  New  Testament  idiom,  and  the  shades  of  meaning 
which  its  vocabulary  had  taken  on  by  the  lapse  of  time  and 
the  changes  wrought  in  the  people,  by  new  moral,  religious 
and  political  conditions.  He  diligently  compared  words 
and  constructions,  to  ascertain  how  they  were  affected 
by  the  idiosyncrasies  of  mind  and  character  of  the  dif- 
ferent writers  of  the  sacred  text,  and  of  the  same  writers, 
under  different  circumstances,  that  he  might  master 
in  the  fullest  sense,  the  special  forms,  syntax  and  lexi- 
cography of  the  New  Testament  Greek.  He  studied 
with  singular  fidelity  the  Physical  Geography,  the  Moral 
and  Political  History  and  Archaeology  of  the  lands  in 
which  Biblical  events  occurred,  and  in  which  the  sacred 
documents  were  written.  Those  who  regarded  him  as 
a  grammarian  and  lexicographer  alone,  had  a  very  im- 
perfect idea  of  his  attainments.  Few  scholars  have  so 
successfully  and  conscientiously  as  he,  brought  the  results 
of  Physical  and  Historical  Science  to  bear  upon  the 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  Though  he  laid  all 
branches  of  inquiry  under  contribution  for  his  purposes, 
he  was  always  an  interpreter,  and  to  this  function  he 
strictly  confined  himself.  He  saw  that  exact  and  scientific 
training  in  Exegesis,  was  the  great  need  of  American 
theological  students,  and  he  sought  to  serve  his  generation 
in  this  department  alone.  He  did  not  aim  to  coordinate 
the  statements  of  revelation  into  a  reasoned  and  scientific 


200  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

system  in  what  may  be  called  Biblical  Theology.  He 
did  not  attempt  to  compare  these  written  manifestations 
of  the  Divine  will  with  the  laws  of  the  human  mind,  or 
the  constitution  and  course  of  nature,  for  the  purposes 
of  Systematic  Theology  or  Apologetics.  Like  the  scien- 
tific explorer,  he  discovered,  examined  and  described, 
with  painstaking  accuracy,  the  facts  and  phenomena 
which  it  was  the  function  of  the  scientific  Theologian 
to  generalize  into  classes  and  fix  in  their  logical  relations. 
He  never  suffered  the  doctrinal  bearing  of  a  passage, 
actual  or  possible,  to  sway  his  judgment  when  settling 
its  meaning:.  He  was  even  averse  to  the  discussion  of 
doctrinal  questions  in  his  lecture  room,  lest  his  pupils 
might  form  the  habit  of  being  affected  in  their  exegeti- 
cal  conclusions  by  a  previously  formed  theological  bias. 
This  arose  not  from  any  want  of  sympathy  with  the 
accepted  results  of  evangelical  orthodoxy,  but  from  the 
earnestness  of  his  belief  in  the  Supreme  authority  of 
the  written  word.  He  was  sternly  intolerant  of  the 
introduction  into  exegetical  inquiries  of  any  considera- 
tions not  justified  by  the  strict  laws  of  interpretation. 
His  reverence  for  God's  word  was  too  sincere  for  him 
to  permit  a  meaning  to  be  imposed  upon  it  from  without. 
From  his  strict  adherence  to  scientific  method  in  the 
study  of  interpretation,  his  results  were  marked  by  rever- 
ence, caution,  exhaustive  investigation,  accuracy  and  good 
sense,  such  as  are  seldom  found  among  exegetical  scholars. 
He  inculcated  these  methods  upon  his  pupils  with  a 
clearness  and  vigor  which  reached  the  dullest  mind,  and 
with  a  contagious  enthusiasm  which  no  indifference  could 
withstand.     As  a  teacher  of  the  elements  of  language,  I 


REMARKS    BY    DR.    ANDERSON.  201 

have  never  known  his  superior,  and  the  impression  he 
made  in  that  capacity,  though  different,  was  as  distinct 
and  powerful  as  in  the  higher  range  of  exegesis. 
Thoroughness  and  accuracy  were  with  him  a  passion,  and 
no  clear  headed  man  could  pass  under  the  control  of  his 
mind  without  receiving  its  impress  and  being  affected  by 
it  for  his  entire  life.  The  very  memory  of  the  tones  in 
which  he  exposed  and  denounced  the  indolence,  presump- 
tion, inaccuracy  and  looseness  by  which  the  laws  of 
language  are  misapplied,  and  the  authority  of  Scripture 
set  at  nought,  became  a  perpetual  impulse  and  warning 
to  his  pupils.  His  methods  were  characterized  by  all  the 
strictness  and  accuracy  of  the  processes  of  Physical 
science.  Had  he  passed  from  the  interpretation  of  the 
Bible  to  the  interpretation  of  nature,  he  would  hardly 
have  been  conscious  of  a  change  in  his  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  investigation.  I  believe  that  no  American 
scholar  has  done  more  than  Dr.  Hackett,  to  introduce  a 
sound  scientific  method  into  Exegetical  study. 

Though  the  characteristics  of  his  method  are  illustrated 
in  his  books,  they  were  more  clearly  set  forth  in  the 
lecture-room.  He  was  emphatically  a  great  teacher.  The 
rigid  conciseness  of  his  written  style  was  laid  aside  in 
speaking,  and  when  excited  in  oral  discussion,  the  imagin- 
ation, force  and  passion  of  the  orator  came  to  the  aid  of 
the  teacher,  and  his  sharply  defined,  many-sided  and  preg- 
nant thoughts  were  carried  home  by  a  real  eloquence 
which  would  have  insured  the  highest  success  had  he 
chosen  to  assume  the  functions  of  the  preacher.  I  delight 
to  think  of  him  as  a  typical  representative  of  the  Teach- 
er's Profession.     Great  teachers   seem  to   me  as   rare   as 


202  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

great  scholars,  orators  or  artists.  I  have  never  known  a 
man  who  more  completely  than  he,  incarnated  the  idea  of 
a  great  teacher.  His  living  words  were  vastly  more 
powerful  than  any  of  the  books  which  he  has  written. 
Wide  as  was  the  influence  which  they  have  shed,  his  oral 
instructions  will  be  more  widely  felt.  They  have  aroused 
thought  and  communicated  impulse  which  will  propa- 
gate themselves  from  mind  to  mind  through  all  time. 
All  who  have  been  his  pupils  will  unite  in  cherishing  the 
profoundest  respect  and  love  for  his  memory,  as  a  man 
and  a  teacher.  Biblical  scholars,  throughout  Christendom, 
will  accord  him  a  distinguished  place  among  those  who 
have  labored  with  success  to  give  breadth,  accuracy  and 
clearness  to  exegetical  science.  It  is  fortunate  for  the 
ministry  of  the  Baptist  denomination  that  he  lived  long 
enough  to  leave  the  impress  of  his  scholarship  and  methods 
of  instruction  upon  two  of  its  Theological  Seminaries. 


AT  NEWTON,  NOVEMBER  6,  1875. 


ADDRESS    BY    MR.    WIIITTEMORE.  205 


ADDRESS    BY  GEORGE  H.  WHITTEMORE. 

I  come,  with  this  mourning  family,  bringing  back  from 
Rochester  Theological  Seminary  the  still  form  of  one 
honored  and  loved,  there  and  here.  These  dear  relics  are 
returned  for  their  last  rest  to  the  precincts  that  were 
familiar  to  him  for  a  generation.  Many  of  us  recall  the 
day,  seven  years  ago,  when  he  laid  down  the  office  of 
teacher  here.  It  was  his  purpose  still  to  dwell  amid  these 
scenes,  and  still  to  devote  himself  to  sacred  letters,  in  a 
different  yet  kindred  path.  But  the  habits  of  near  forty 
years,  from  the  time  he  was  tutor  at  Amherst,  in  1831, 
were  not  easily  changed.  He  came,  after  a  time,  seriously 
to  miss  the  accustomed  contact  with  eager  disciples. 
Meanwhile,  his  former  duties  here  had  been  committed  to 
the  approved  hands  in  which  they  now  are.  This  was 
Rochester's  opportunity,  under  Providence.  She  saw  it 
and  was  glad.  He  came  to  us  in  the  fulness  of  his  fame. 
I  remember  hearing  Dr.  Robinson  publicly  say,  in  the 
days  when  Dr.  Hackett's  advent  was  expected  among  us, 
"He  is  not  an  old  man,  though  he  was  my  teacher." 
Rochester  Seminary,— her  trustees,  her  faculty,  her  stu- 
dents,— in  the  midst  of  her  grief,  yet  gratefully  rejoices, 
and  ever  will  rejoice,  in  the  memory  of  Horatio  Balch 
Hackett's  five  years  of  service,  and  in  the  traditions  of 
his  spirit  and  labors.  Were  this  the  time  and  place,  I 
could  tell  how,  since  the  loss,  five  years  ago,  of  a  loved 


206  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

and  loving  father,  God  has  brought  me  into  almost  filial 
relations  with  this  great  man.  But  now,  I  speak  for 
Rochester.  She  greets  you  with  sympathy,  in  the  per- 
sonal bereavement,  and  in  the  general  loss  of  the  Christian 
and  learned  world. 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    PARK.  207 


PROFESSOR   HACKETT  AT  ANDOVER. 

REMARKS  BY  PROFESSOR  EDWARDS  A.  PARK, 

AT    THE    FUNERAL    OF    PROFESSOR    HACKETT,    AT    NEWTON, 
NOVEMBER    6,    1 875. 

For  more  than  a  year  I  have  declined  every  call  to 
address  a  popular  assembly ;  but  I  could  not  decline  the 
call  to  address  this  assembly,  and  pay  my  last  tribute  to  a 
man  whose  friendship  I  have  enjoyed  for  well  nigh  fifty 
years. 

I  am  not  delegated  to  speak,  yet  I  cannot  forbear  to 
speak  in  behalf  of  two  literary  institutions  in  Andover. 
Our  departed  friend  was  a  favorite  son  of  both  of  those 
institutions ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  both  to  let  their  leaves 
of  laurel  fall  on  his  grave.  The  Andover  Theological 
Seminary  has  helped  to  train  a  Chase,  a  Ripley,  and,  in 
some  degree,  a  Sears,  for  the  Seminary  at  Newton  ;  and 
also  a  Hackett  for  the  Seminaries  at  Newton  and  Roch- 
ester. He  has  been  a  golden  link  binding  these  three 
Institutions  together.  May  they  never  forget  the  man 
who  loved  them  all,  and  was  the  object  of  their  common 
love  and  reverence ! 

It  was  in  the  year  1823,  more  than  fifty-two  years  ago, 
that  our  friend  became  a  member  of  Phillips  Academy. 
In  that  early  day,  as  throughout  his  entire  life,  there  was 
something  impressive  in  his  personal  appearance.  The 
aspect  of  the  boy  at  school  is  vividly  remembered  yet  by 


208  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

several  of  his  fellow  pupils.  One  of  the  most  eminent  of 
them  described  him  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  for  1869,  as 
a  boy  of  small  stature,  black  hair,  black  and  bright  eyes. 
While  bending  over  his  study-desk,  "  his  head  was  be- 
tween his  hands,  and  his  eyes  were  fastened  to  his  book, 
as  if  he  had  been  reading  a  will  that  made  him  heir  to  a 
million."  "Thousands  of  faces  and  forms,"  adds  Dr. 
Holmes,  "that  I  have  known  more  or  less  familiarly,  have 
faded  from  my  remembrance ;  but  this  presentment  of 
the  youthful  student,  sitting  there  entranced  over  the 
page  of  his  text  book,  is  not  a  picture  framed  and  hung 
up  in  my  mind's  gallery,  but  a  fresco  on  its  walls,  there  to 
remain  so  long  as  they  hold  together."  His  habit  of  iron 
diligence,  his  inflexible  perseverance,  his  rapid  progress, 
won  for  him  the  esteem,  not  only  of  his  teachers,  but 
also  of  the  Corporation  of  the  Academy.  Hon.  Samuel 
Hubbard,  one  of  the  Trustees,  afterwards  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  was  so  deeply  impressed 
by  young  Hackett's  valedictory  oration,  that  he  offered 
to  the  young  orator  all  the  pecuniary  aid  which  he  might 
need  during  his  collegiate  course. 

The  diminutive  stature  of  a  boy,  as  of  a  man,  will 
sometimes  hide  his  worth  from  superficial  observers. 
While  our  friend  was  a  member  of  Phillips  Academy,  he 
became  interested  in  forming  an  association  of  the  stu- 
dents for  their  mental  improvement.  One  of  the  students 
looked  down  upon  the  small  boy,  and  objected  to  his 
being  a  member  of  the  association.  "We  shall  not  allow 
any  such  young  creatures  as  that  in  our  Society,"  was  the 
criticism  of  the  stalwart  objector.  There  were  other 
members  of  the  school,  however,  who   knew   the   small 


ADDRESS    BY     DR.    PARK.  209 

boy,  and  knew  also  that  "  mind  is  the  measure  of  the 
man."  They  rallied  around  him,  and  triumphantly  united 
with  him  in  forming  a  new  Society,  which  they  named 
the  Philomathean.  It  is  said  that  he  gave  this  name  to 
the  association.  It  is  certain  that  he  gave  it  a  character 
which  it  has  not  lost  for  fifty  years.  On  the  twenty-sixth 
of  May  last  (1875),  the  Philomathean  Society  held  its 
Semi-Centennial  anniversary  at  Andover.  Five  hundred 
of  its  past  and  present  members  wTere  assembled  at  the 
Jubilee.  Both  in  private  and  in  public,  they  indulged  in 
many  a  grateful  reminiscence  of  Professor  Hackett.  One 
and  another,  as  they  moved  over  the  classic  grounds, 
talked  of  the  man  who  was  present  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Society,  and  who  gave  his  strength  and  skill  to  the 
shaping  of  its  platform.  They  told  of  their  love  for  the 
scholar  whose  influence  had  already  flowed  through  a 
half  century  of  that  ancient  school,  and  whose  influence 
is  yet  to  flow  on  like  a  refreshing  stream.  Little  did  his 
encomiasts  dream  that  he  was  to  leave  them  so  soon. 
They  paid  him  high  honor ;  little  did  they  think  that 
they  "did  it  for  his  burial." 

In  1830  he  entered  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary. 
The  fame  of  his  career  in  the  Academy  still  lingered  in 
its  halls.  He  came  laden  also  with  collegiate  honors. 
His  energetic  work  in  the  studies  of  his  junior  year  made 
it  evident  that  his  honors  were  well  earned.  He  "  dujr 
deep,  that  he  might  pile  high."  He  delighted  in  books  of 
solid  worth,  and  gave  but  little  heed  to  ephemeral  litera- 
ture. He  studied  for  the  present  and  a  future  age.  His 
fellow  students  predicted  that  so  long  as  Providence  re- 
tained him  in  health,  his  course  would  be  onward  and 
15 


2IO  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

upward ;  and  we  all  believed  that  after  his  earthly  life  had 
ceased,  his  course  would  continue  to  be  onward  and 
upward  forever  and  ever. 

While  a  theological  student  at  Andover,  he  exhibited, 
as  ever  afterwards,  various  excellencies  which  appear 
sometimes  to  be  incompatible  with  each  other.  One 
of  these  excellencies  was  his  exactness  of  scholarship. 
His  thoughts  were  definite,  his  language  precise,  his 
vocalization  distinct.  Listening  to  his  clear-cut  syllables, 
even  in  his  familiar  talk,  one  could  not  fail  to  detect 
the  clearness  of  his  ideas.  He  would  hunt  through 
lexicons  in  order  to  rectify  a  syllable.  At  that  early  age, 
his  nice  critical  taste  and  his  acumen  in  distinguishing 
things  that  differ  were  obviously  preparing  him  to 
write  his  compact  and  accurate  commentaries.  It  was 
his  habit  of  exact  thinking  and  exact  speaking  which 
first  attracted  the  attention  of  his  teacher,  Edward 
Robinson.  Both  in  public  and  in  private,  in  conver- 
sation, in  epistolary  correspondence,  and  on  the  printed 
page,  Professor  Robinson  foretold  the  marked  emi- 
nence of  his  young  pupil  as  an  interpreter  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

His  careful  scholarship  might  be  supposed  to  have 
been  united  with  a  cold  and  calculating  spirit.  Just  the 
reverse.  As  Dr.  Robinson  was  interested  in  his  accu- 
racy, so  Professor  Stuart  was  interested  in  his  enthusiasm. 
The  former  extolled  him ;  the  latter  exulted  in  him. 
The  young  pupil  combined  the  carefulness  of  Robinson 
with  the  fervidness  of  Stuart.  He  was  a  fiery  scholar ; 
every  inch  a  scholar.  He  studied  with  all  his  heart,  and 
with  all  his  soul,   and  with   all   his    understanding,    and 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    PARK.  211 

with  all  his  strength.  Emphatically,  he  was  "  not  slothful 
in  business,"  hut  "  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord." 
He  turned  his  passions  into  the  channel  of  his  learning. 
He  often  uttered  with  great  energy  what  he  had  thought 
out  with  great  precision.  In  the  social  circle  he  was 
gentle ;  but  in  the  literary  discussion  he  was  often  vehe- 
ment. In  his  ordinary  conversation  he  was  like  a  lamb; 
but  in  an  important  debate,  like  a  lion.  He  was  not 
only  enthusiastic  with  his  accuracy,  but  enthusiastic  in 
it.  He  was  so  eager  to  put  himself  into  the  exact 
position  of  the  author  whom  he  studied,  to  enter  into 
the  author's  distinctive  method  of  thinking  and  feeling ; 
he  was  so  annoyed  when  he  failed  to  stand  at  the  precise 
angle  of  vision  which  the  author  stood  at,  and  to  catch 
the  particular  shade  in  which  the  author  was  looking 
at  his  subject,  that  he  would  sometimes  leave  his  study- 
chair,  rush  from  one  side  of  his  room  to  the  other  side, 
throw  himself  on  the  floor,  and  there  toss  himself  to 
and  fro,  laboring  and  struggling  for  just  the  right  thought 
and  just  the  right  word.  His  spirit  was  like  a  storm  all 
the  day ;  and  when  the  day  was  gone  his  body  was  like 
the  sea  after  it  had  been  agitated  by  the  wind.  It  would 
not  rest.  The  darkness  of  the  night  brought  him  no 
repose.  So  much  did  the  careful  scholar  pay  for  his 
tact  and  skill  in  criticism !  So  early  did  he  begin  his 
expensive  mode  of  life !  So  large  is  the  outlay  for 
power  to  write  a  book  which  is  really  a  book  !  A  genuine 
enthusiast  in  study  must  work  out  his  success  with  fear 
and  trembling.  The  Apollo  Belvidere  is  not  fashioned 
except  by  hard  blows  of  the  hammer  and  sharp  incisions 
of  the  chisel. 


212  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

As  it  was  Professor  Hackett's  accuracy  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  Edward  Robinson,  his  enthusiasm  which 
excited  the  interest  of  Moses  Stuart,  so  it  was  his  mod- 
esty and  simple-heartedness,  which,  in  a  special  manner, 
gained  the  admiration  of  Bela  B.  Edwards.  Professor 
Edwards  was  not  Dr.  Hackett's  teacher  at  Andover, 
but  he  was  his  tutor  at  Amherst ;  and  their  love  for 
each  other,  both  at  Amherst  and  Andover,  from  1826 
to  1852,  was  like  the  love  of  David  and  Jonathan.  There 
was  a  deep  and  beautiful  poetry  in  it.  Professor  Hackett 
has  written  a  eulogium  on  Professor  Edwards,  and  if 
Professor  Edwards  were  living  to-day,  and  standing 
where  I  now  stand,  he  might  repeat  that  same  eulogium, 
and  apply  it  almost  word  for  word,  to  Professor  Hackett. 
Each  esteemed  the  other  for  his  union  of  excellencies 
which  seldom  come  together  in  one  man.  Each  esteemed 
the  other  for  his  meek  and  lowly  spirit,  and  for  the  single- 
ness and  simplicity  of  his  love  for  the  truth.  It  is  re- 
markable that  Professor  Hackett  remained  so  modest 
during  his  entire  life.  Throughout  his  boyhood  he  had 
received  the  highest  encomiums  from  his  preceptors  and 
fellow  pupils.  In  manhood  he  has  been  extolled  by 
men  of  various  classes ;  by  Rufus  Choate  and  Edward 
Everett ;  by  President  Felton  and  President  Wayland  ; 
by  Dean  Howson  and  Dean  Alford  ;  by  Tholuck,  Nean- 
der,  and  many  German  scholars,  among  the  rationalists, 
and  among  the  supernaturalists.  Yet  all  these  things 
did  not  move  him.  He  still  remained  deferential  to  his 
companions.  He  treated  his  inferiors  as  if  they  were 
above  him  in  worth.  Young  men  often  felt  abashed 
by  the  humility  of  his  demeanor  toward  them.     Some- 


ADDRESS    BY     DR.    PARK.  2  I  3 

times  they  could  not  understand  it.  Yet,  with  all  his 
deference  to  his  teachers,  he  was  too  honest  to  coincide 
with  them  when  he  did  not  regard  them  as  coinciding 
with  the  truth.  Much  as  he  loved  his  friends,  he  loved 
the  truth  still  more.  He  had  a  peculiar  fondness  for 
walking  in  the  same  path,  and  arm  in  arm  with  his  old 
companions  in  study ;  but  he  chose  to  walk  alone,  and  in 
a  different  path,  if  he  thought  them  to  be  in  the  wrong 
way.  His  friends  loved  him  when  he  agreed  with  them, 
and  they  continued  to  love  him  when  he  differed  from 
them.  They  believed  him  to  have  one  single  aim,  and 
that  was  to  learn  and  to  do  the  right.  They  would  have 
stood  in  fear  of  his  zealous  and  enterprising  scholarship, 
if  it  had  not  been  combined  with  his  honest,  single- 
hearted  love  for  truth. 

His  habits  of  minute  and  rigid  accuracy  might  be 
supposed  to  have  made  him  unsocial,  but  he  was  a  mag- 
netic companion.  His  enthusiasm  was  no  more  obvious 
in  his  studies  than  in  his  attachments.  It  made  him 
capable  of  deep  indignation  toward  the  false  and  the 
wrong ;  but  it  made  him  one  of  the  most  affectionate  of 
friends.  Having  once  loved  Andover  as  the  place  of  his 
intellectual  nativity,  he  loved  it  unto  the  end.  It  was  a 
beautiful  filial  piety  which  he  manifested  toward  both  the 
Academy  and  the  Seminary  at  which  he  prepared  himself 
for  the  college  and  the  pulpit.  Whenever  he  revisited 
those  ancient  schools,  he  brought  with  him  an  inspiration 
like  that  of  a  prophet.  We  entertained  him,  not  unawares, 
as  if  he  had  been  an  angel.  It  was  good  to  hear  him 
utter  his  fresh  thoughts.  Whenever  he  came  to  us,  he 
seemed  to  be  young  again.  He  came  absorbed  with  some 
worthy  idea.     In  the  streets  of  the  village,  in  the  fields 


2  14  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

around  it,  in  the  study,  and  in  the  parlor,  he  was  eager  to 
converse  on  some  great  article  of  his  faith.  His  very 
questions  were  instructive ;  his  answers  to  questions  are 
never  to  be  forgotten.  He  was  always  ready  to  learn 
something  from  those  whom  he  could  teach ;  and  he  was 
an  inspiring  instructor  even  in  his  process  of  learning. 
When  I  heard  by  telegraph,  that  our  beloved  friend 
had  been  suddenly  translated  to  the  other  world,  my  first 
thought  was :  Now  he  has  rejoined  his  former  compan- 
ions, who  went  before  him  to  the  great  school  in  the 
heavens ;  now  he  will  see  again  the  teachers  at  whose  feet 
he  loved  to  sit  in  the  schools  of  earth.  Now,  too,  he  will 
meet  the  Fathers  of  the  church  whom  he  revered  so 
highly ;  Augustine,  the  man  of  the  heart  on  fire ;  Chrys- 
ostom,  the  man  of  golden  speech.  Now  he  will  hold 
converse  with  the  Apostles ;  with  Paul,  over  whose 
journeyings  and  writings  our  friend  had  spent  days  and 
nights  of  study;  with  John,  whom  he  so  much  resembled, 
at  one  time  like  the  sparrow,  dwelling  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  at  another  time  like  the  eagle,  soaring  toward  the 
sun.  Now  will  our  brother  stand  before  the  throne  and 
say :  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive 
power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honor, 
and  glory,  and  blessing."  The  hard  work  of  life  is  over. 
The  pains  of  his  frail  body  are  ended.  He  looks  forward 
to  no  more  wearisome  days  followed  by  sleepless  nights- 
He  has  fought  the  good  fight;  he  has  finished  his  course; 
he  has  kept  the  faith.  He  has  become  what  he  seemed 
so  well  fitted  to  be,  a  pure  spirit ;  and  we  may  almost 
hear  him  exclaim :  "Now  unto  the  King  eternal,  immor- 
tal, and  invisible,  the  only  wise  God,  be  honor  and  glory 
forever  and  ever.     Amen." 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    TYLER.  2  I  5 


PROFESSOR  HACKETT  AT  AMHERST. 

ADDRESS  BY  PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  S.  TYLER,  D.  D., 

AT    NEWTON,    NOVEMBER  6,    1 8  75. 

When  I  first  received  the  news  of  Dr.  Hackett's  death 
and  was  requested  to  take  part  in  the  funeral  exercises,  I 
felt  that  1  could  not  do  it— any  more  than  I  could  offici- 
ate at  the  funeral  of  a  brother.  But  my  second  thought 
was:  Is  there  anything  that  I  would  not  try  to  do  for 
the  widow  and  children  of  so  dear  a  friend  ?  Yet  I  can- 
not trust  myself,  especially  as  I  am  little  accustomed  to 
speak  on  such  occasions.  I  fear  I  could  not  command 
my  thoughts  and  feelings,  still  less  words  to  express 
them.  So  I  beg  of  you  to  excuse  me  for  having  written 
what  I  wish  to  say.  Thus,  I  trust,  I  shall  be  able  to  say 
it  in  less  time,  and  to  speak  less  unadvisedly.  What  I 
shall  say  has  respect  almost  exclusively  to  his  college 
relations. 

Dr.  Hackett  was  my  class  mate.  It  has  always  been 
my  pleasure  and  my  pride  to  speak  of  him  as  such.  The 
same  is  true  of  every  member  of  our  class.  He  entered 
Amherst  College  in  the  fall  of  1826,  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen (nearly  eighteen),  went  through  the  entire  course, 
and  graduated  in  1830  with  the  highest  honors.  I  en- 
tered from  another  college  in  the  second  term  of  the 
Junior  year,  and  found  him  already  the  acknowledged 
leader  of  the  class,  not  only  in  scholarship,  but  in  every- 
thing of  a  literary  kind,  and  looked  up  to  by  all 
College  as   the  best  scholar,  not   only    of  his   class,   but 


2l6  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

in  the  Institution.  This  peerless  standing  he  held  not 
because  he  particularly  coveted  it,  still  less  because  he 
sought  it  by  any  unworthy  means,  but  simply  because 
he  earned  and  deserved  it.  As  a  student  he  was  already 
what  I  well  remember  President  Sears  once  reported 
him  to  be  as  a  Professor,  "  a  ferocious  worker."  I  always 
think  of  him  in  study  hours,  as  I  saw  him  more  than 
once,  in  a  partially  darkened  bed-room,  with  his  coat  laid 
aside,  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  standing  beside  his  high  desk, 
with  every  thought  and  every  power  manifestly  concen- 
trated on  his  books.  Yet  no  one  ever  spoke  of  him  as 
a  "dig"  as  such  students  are  sometimes  scornfully  desig- 
nated. He  was  too  manifestly  an  honest,  honorable  and 
earnest  lover  of  learning  for  its  own  sake — he  was  too 
universally  honored  and  beloved  for  that.  His  popular- 
ity was  as  remarkable  as  his  scholarship.  Hence,  when, 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  term  of  our  Junior  year,  we 
came  to  the  first  election  of  officers  of  the  literary  socie- 
ties from  our  class,  he  was  chosen  the  first  president  of 
his  society,  which  was  then  coveted  as  the  highest  honor 
a  student  could  receive  at  the  hands  of  his  fellow  stu- 
dents. Yet  no  one  envied  him,  no  one  grudged  him  the 
honor.  Every  one  felt  that  he  deserved  it  for  his  ability 
and  fidelity  as  a  member  of  the  society.  He  was  above 
envy,  above  enmity,  at  once  too  great  and  too  good  for 
any  one  to  have  the  feeling  towards  him ;  much  less 
express  it. 

His  preference  in  college  was  just  what  it  always  has 
been  since — for  language  and  literature.  He  had  com- 
paratively little  taste  for  the  physical  sciences ;  he  had 
no  remarkable  talent  for  mathematics,  and  he  was    not 


ADDRESS    BY     DR.    TYLER.  21  7 

preeminent  in  philosophy.  But  in  classics  and  belles- 
lettres,  he  was  facile  princeps,  not  only  without  a  peer 
but  without  a  rival.  And  if  it  had  been  possible  for  us  to 
envy  him,  it  would  have  been  when  we  heard  him  trans- 
late his  lessons  in  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics  with  such 
unerring  accuracy,  and,  at  the  same  time,  such  matchless 
elegance.  In  short,  in  almost  every  particular,  the  boy 
in  college  was  father  to  the  man  in  the  author's  study 
and  the  professor's  chair.  Or  rather,  he  was  already,  as 
compared  with  most  college  students,  the  mature  man, 
the  rare  scholar,  the  nice  critic,  the  affluent  and  graceful 
writer. 

I  must  not  fail  to  acid,  that  he  had  already  become  a 
Christian,  having  been  converted  in  the  great  revival  of 
1827,  when  he  was  a  Freshman,  and  joined  the  College 
Church  November  2,  1828,  in  the  beginning  of  his  Soph- 
omore year.  His  piety  also  was  in  college,  just  what  it 
always  continued  to  be,  not  emotional,  not  particularly 
active  and  forward,  but  consistent,  exemplary — not  a 
spasm,  not  a  profession,  but  a  life  and  a  power  in  the 
community. 

After  an  absence  of  one  year — contrary  to  the  usual 
practice  of  the  College,  which  ordinarily  gave  such 
appointments  only  to  graduates  of  two  years'  standing- 
he  was  invited  to  return  as  a  tutor.  His  tutorship 
began  in  the  autumn  of  1831,  and  closed  at  Commence- 
ment, 1832.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office  with 
such  ability,  fidelity  and  success,  that  the  only  complaint 
I  ever  heard  from  officers  or  students  was,  that  he  resisted 
all  their  importunities  to  stay  another  year.  It  was  my 
lot  to  succeed  him  in  the  tutorial  office,  and  in  the  room 


2l8  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

which  he  occupied  in  the  old  South  College.  And  I  have 
never  forgotten  the  answer  he  returned  when  I  wrote 
him  from  Andover,  asking  him  to  sell  me  his  furniture, 
which  in  those  days  tutors,  as  well  as  students,  were 
obliged  to  provide  for  themselves.  He  said  he  was  just 
putting  his  furniture  up  to  sale  at  auction,  when  my  letter 
came ;  but  he  had  at  once  arrested  the  hammer  of  the 
auctioneer,  and  I  should  have  the  benefit  of  all  that 
remained,  adding,  in  a  vein  of  humor  and  naivetd  which 
I  often  admired  in  his  letters,  that  that  was  emphatically 
true  of  tutorial  life  which  the  poet  said  of  life  in  general : 

"We  want  but  little  here  below, 
Nor  want  that  little  long." 

In  the  winter  following,  he  was  appointed  by  the 
Alumni  of  Amherst  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
to  write  the  usual  letter  of  Christian  salutation  and  ex- 
hortation to  their  under-graduate  brethren  in  College,  just 
before  the  annual  fast  for  Colleges.  I  have  the  letter  yet ; 
and  I  cannot  conceive  of  anything  better  fitted  to  instruct 
and  impress  upon  them  the  duty  and  privilege  of  an 
exemplary  Christian  life  in  College,  and  the  power  of 
such  a  life  over  their  unconverted  classmates  and  fellow- 
students. 

Next  to  our  truly  fraternal  fellowship  and  communion 
with  each  other  at  our  respective  homes,  of  which  I 
cherish  many  sacred  recollections,  my  most  delightful 
associations  with  Dr.  Hackett  have  been  in  the  reunions 
of  our  class  from  time  to  time  at  Commencement.  At 
such  meetings,  by  a  spontaneous  impulse,  we  always 
placed  him  in  the  chair,  and  while  we  gathered  around 
him  as  a  brother,  we  also  looked  up  to  him  as  something 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    TYLER.  2  I  9 

more, — as  a  teacher,  a  model  and  a  guide ;  he  always 
talked  with  us  with  the  wisdom  of  a  scholar,  it  is  true, 
but  also  with  the  humility,  modesty  and  simplicity  of  a 
little  child. 

The  last  time  he  met  us  was  at  the  Semi-centennial  of 
the  College,  in  1871.  By  the  joint  action  of  a  Committee 
of  the  Alumni,  the  Trustees  and  the  Faculty,  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  speakers  on  that  occasion.  For  his 
College  was  proud  of  him,  and  delighted  to  honor  him  ; 
and  having  been  anticipated  by  the  University  of  Ver- 
mont in  giving  him  the  D.  D.,  his  Alma  Mater  in  1862 
had  already  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Laws. 

In  compliance  with  the  invitation  he  was  present  at 
the  Semi-centennial,  and  was  prepared  to  speak;  but  when 
he  saw  the  big  tent,  and  the  vast  congregation  by  which 
it  was  filled,  his  heart  seems  to  have  failed  him, — at 
any  rate  when  he  was  called,  he  was  not  there — he  was 
nowhere  to  be  found.  Always  and  everywhere  modest, 
he  was  especially  shy,  shrinking,  diffident  of  appearing 
before  a  great  congregation.  He  was  born  and  trained, 
not  for  the  platform,  but  for  the  study  and  the  class-room. 
The  address  which  he  so  shrunk  from  delivering,  was 
printed  in  the  Semi-centennial  pamphlet.  It  was  full,  as 
he  always  was,  of  loyalty  to  his  College,  love  to  his  Alma 
Mater,  fraternal  affection  to  his  brother  Alumni,  and 
especial  complacency  towards  his  class,  in  whose  behalf 
and  for  whose  sake  it  was  that  he  particularly  wished  to 
speak.  Though  shrinking  from  the  public  speech,  he 
enjoyed  everything  else, — the  class-meeting,  the  renewal 
of  old  acquaintance,  the  converse  with  personal  friends, 


2  20  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

the  respectful  and  almost  worshipful  regard  of  his  hosts — 
all  these  he  enjoyed  like  a  child  revisiting  the  homestead 
and  the  place  of  his  birth. 

A  few  weeks  after,  he  wrote  me  a  letter,  which  so 
reveals  the  warmth  of  his  noble  and  generous  heart,  that 
I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  an  extract:  "How  delight- 
ful my  visit  to  dear  old  Amherst  was,  and  how  grateful 
will  ever  be  my  remembrance  of  old  friendships  revived, 
and  personal  intercourse  with  classmates  renewed,  alas ! 
too  briefly,  I  cannot  easily  describe.  Such  a  mingling  of 
sadness  and  yet  calm  happiness — of  happiness  from  the 
manifestation  of  kindness  and  affection  on  the  part  of  all 
the  old  friends  whom  I  met  after  so  many  years  of  separa- 
tion— it  really  has  left  on  my  heart  an  impression,  joyous, 
serious,  solemn,  such  as  I  have  never  experienced  in  all 
my  life.  There  was  nothing  to  mar  the  deep  satisfaction 
with  which  my  heart  was  filled ;  and  I  came  away  feeling 
that  my  happiness  had  been  just  about  as  complete  as 
the  conditions  of  our  present  imperfect  human  state 
would  allow.  I  love  the  entire  human  brotherhood  the 
better  for  such  an  experience,  and  feel  that  the  ties  of 
humanity  knit  me  more  closely  than  ever  before  with  all 
my  race.  I  am  not  expressing  my  thoughts  and  feelings 
very  clearly,  but  let  these  broken  words  help  you  to  some 
conception  of  what  I  mean." 

Perhaps  I  do  wrong  to  draw  the  veil  from  such  thoughts 
and  feelings  expressed  only  in  the  privacy  of  a  friendly 
letter;  but  do  they  not  reveal  a  heart  such  as  scholars 
and  recluses  are  generally  believed  not  to  possess,  and 
which  was  known  only  to  his  most  intimate  friends  ? 
Perhaps  I   owe  an  apology  for  all  these  personal  details. 


ADDRESS     BY     DR.    TYLER.  22  1 

But  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  see  this  prince  of  Ameri- 
can Biblical  scholars,  this  model  commentator  on  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  this  full  and  exact  annotator  of 
classical  authors,  this  patient  and  indefatigable  corrector 
of  errors  and  collector  of  facts,  this  leading  member  of 
the  National  Committee  for  Bible  Revision,  this  critical 
editor  and  reviser  of  the  best  Bible  Dictionary  of  the 
age,  this  really  many-sided  man,  whom  the  world  knows 
only  as  a  critic  and  scholar — I  say,  it  has  been  my  happi- 
ness to  see  him  chiefly  on  his  genial  and  sunny  side,  and 
1  would  fain  give  some  glimpses  of  it  to  others.  Truth, 
accuracy,  sincerity,  all  who  knew  anything  of  him,  knew 
that  he  possessed,  as  well  as  they  knew  that  he  possessed 
vast  stores  of  knowledge  and  rare  critical  acumen.  But 
that  he  was  as  loving  and  lovely  as  he  was  truthful  and 
correct ;  that  he  was  overflowing  with  tenderness,  gentle- 
ness, generosity,  magnanimity,  philanthropy,  gratitude 
for  kindness,  complacency  towards  goodness,  and  love 
to  every  human  being,  was  known  only  to  his  friends. 
Those  who  entertained  him  felt  that  they  had  enter- 
tained an  angel  unawares. 

The  last  letter  I  received  from  this  dear  friend  and 
brother,  was  in  answer  to  an  invitation,  which,  as  class- 
secretary,  I  sent  him  to  a  reunion  of  the  class,  on  the 
forty-fifth  anniversary  of  our  graduation — the  Commence- 
ment of  1875.  in  response  to  this  invitation,  he  wrote 
that  he  was  just  on  the  eve  of  embarkation  for  Europe; 
expressed  his  sorrow  and  regret  that  he  could  not  be 
present,  and  his  best  wishes  for  the  meeting,  and  sent  the 
most  affectionate  greetings  to  all  his  surviving  classmates. 
But,  do  you   believe   it,  with  one  accord  we  agreed  to 


222  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

have  no  meeting,  feeling  that  we  could  not  meet  without 
Hackett — that  without  him  the  class  would  hardly  retain 
its  identity.  So  we  put  off  the  meeting  till  our  fiftieth 
anniversary,  hoping  that  he  would  be  present.  And 
now,  alas !  he  will  never  meet  with  us  again  in  this  world. 
But  he  has  gone  over  to  the  other  side,  where  the  majority 
of  us  are  already  gathered.  There,  I  trust,  we  shall  all 
soon  meet.  There,  if  there  is  any  truth  in  that  almost 
intuitive  belief,  even  of  the  best  pagans,  that  the  departed 
retain,  not  only  the  character  but  more  or  less  of  the 
circumstances  and  relations  of  the  present  life,  we  will 
gather  around  him  again,  and  again  sit  at  his  feet.  There 
will  he  lead  classmates  and  pupils  without  number  to 
the  living,  eternal  Word,  and  there  he  will  be  our 
guide  through  the  true  land  of  the  Bible, — the  heavenly 
Canaan.  Beloved  brother !  thou  hast  been  very  dear 
unto  us.  We  would  fain  have  had  one  more  meeting 
as  a  class.  Fain  would  we,  as  individuals,  at  least,  have 
seen  thee  in  thy  last  hours,  taken  thee  once  more  by  the 
hand,  heard  thy  last  words,  and  received  a  parting  bless- 
ing. But,  nay,  let  us  rather  give  him  joy,  not  only  in 
his  departure,  but  in  the  time  and  manner  of  it,  in  the 
fulness  of  health  and  strength,  in  the  freshness  and  clear- 
ness of  mental  vigor,  in  the  midst  of  his  chosen  and 
appointed  work,  from  the  very  presence  of  his  beloved 
pupils,  without  disease  or  decay,  from  the  battle  of  life 
right  to  the  trophy,  from  the  class-room  straight  to  the 
crown.  From  such  a  "  sudden  death  "  shall  I  pray,  Good 
Lord,  deliver  us !  Rather  would  I  say :  "  Let  me  thus 
die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and,  if  the  Lord  will,  let  my 
last  end  be  like  his !  " 


ADDRESS    HV     DR.    CASWELL.  223 

PROFESSOR   HACKETT   IN   PROVIDENCE. 

REMARKS  BY  REV.  ALEXIS  CASWELL,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

AT     THE     FUNERAL     OF     REV.     DR.     HACKETT,    AT     NEWTON, 
NOV  EM  HER    6,     I  875. 

My  Dear  Professor  Whittemore: 

You  have  kindly  requested  me  to  furnish  you  with  a  copy  of  my 
remarks  at  the  funeral  of  Dr.  Hackett,  touching  his  residence  and 
labors  as  a  Professor  in  Brown  University.  This  it  will  be  impos- 
sible for  me  to  do  with  any  considerable  accuracy,  inasmuch  as  I 
spoke  without  any  written  memoranda.  I  can  only  give,  in  a  general 
way,  the  substance  of  my  remarks.  Yours  truly, 

ALEXIS  CASWELL. 

Dr.  Hackett  commenced  his  duties  as  Adjunct  Professor 
of  Latin  and  Greek,  in  Brown  University,  in  September, 
1835,  and  continued  in  service  till  September,  1839. 
His  study  in  University  Hall  was  just  across  the  passage- 
way from  my  own.  During  those  five  years  I  saw  him 
almost  daily,  and  knew  him  intimately.  The  intimacy 
then  formed  was  never  impaired  in  after  life,  or  in  any 
manner  interrupted,  except  by  distance  of  residence. 

I  can  well  recall  the  impressions  of  my  first  interviews 
with  him.  He  was  then  young,  of  medium  height  and 
stature,  with  piercing,  small  black  eyes,  regular  features, 
and  compressed,  unyielding  lips.  His  health,  even  at 
that  period  of  his  life,  was  far  from  being  robust.  It  was 
seldom,  however,  that  any  physical  infirmity  prevented 
the  most  unremitting  labor. 

The  first  impression  of  his  mental  habits  and  character, 
derived    even    from  a   casual   conversation,  was   that  of 


2  24  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

a  man  of  clear,  well-formed  ideas,  tersely  expressed  ;  of 
a  man  of  lofty  ideals,  who  was  leaving  what  was  behind, 
and  reaching  forth  to  seize  the  grand  moral  and  intellect- 
ual prizes  before  him.  Firmness  of  purpose  and  decision 
of  character,  stood  out  conspicuously  from  whatever 
stand-point  you  viewed  him. 

His  labors  as  an  instructor  in  Latin  and  Greek,  were 
eminently  successful.  His  own  habits  of  classical  study 
were  critical  and  exact  to  the  last  degree.  No  pains 
was  spared  to  furnish  himself  with  the  latest  and  best 
results  of  scholarship  in  relation  to  the  classical  author 
before  him,  and  no  pains  was  spared  to  impress  upon  his 
pupils  the  necessity  of  aiming  at  critical  accuracy  in  the 
lesson  of  every  day.  And  he  was  fortunately  happy  in 
imparting  his  own  enthusiasm  to  many  of  his  pupils. 
If  there  was  a  heedless  sluggard  among  them,  he  never 
failed  to  have  a  feeling  sense  of  his  deficiencies  at  the 
close  of  every  recitation.  There  was  no  escape  from  the 
searching  examination  of  the  Professor. 

I  think  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  his  classical 
instructions  formed  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  College. 
They  left  an  enduring  impression,  and  have  ever  since 
been  regarded  as  the  proper  type  of  classical  training. 
One  of  the  two  eminent  Professors  of  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages  and  literatures,  now  in  the  University, 
was  a  pupil  of  his,  and  the  other,  though  not  a  pupil, 
was  an  intimate  friend.  They  both  cherish  a  very  high 
appreciation  of  his  singular  ability  and  faithfulness  as  a 
teacher.  Indeed,  the  best  college  graduates  of  his  time 
have  often  been  heard  to  speak  with  pride  of  having 
been  under  his  instructions. 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    CASWELL. 


•*$ 


In  his  habits  of  intercourse,  Professor  Hackett  was 
modest  and  retiring.  Boasting,  and  show,  and  laboring 
for  effect,  were  utterly  repulsive  to  his  nature.-  lie  looked 
upon  them  as  the  unmistakable  marks  of  an  empty, 
shallow  mind,  the  cheap  and  flimsy  substitutes  for  real 
worth.  In  social  intercourse,  he  was  always  a  welcome 
guest,  and  an  instructive  companion.  But  such  were  his 
habits  of  labor,  so  severe  his  devotion  to  his  studies,  that 
he  scarcely  allowed  himself  the  recreation  necessary,  in 
most  cases,  to  the  normal,  healthy  condition  of  the  mind. 
Morning  and  evening,  day  and  night,  it  was  pressing  on 
with  unremitting  efforts  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
task  before  him.  His  mind  and  heart  and  all  his  instincts, 
were  enlisted  in  the  work,  and  it  would  be  imposing  upon 
him  an  irksome  restraint  to  tear  him  away  from  it.  I 
often  regretted  that  he  did  not  give  himself  a  larger 
measure  of  recreation  and  freedom  from  the  exhausting 
labors  of  his  profession.  But  it  was  not  in  him  to  do  so. 
And  it  might  possibly  have  interfered  with  those  splendid 
achievements,  which  crowned  his  subsequent  career. 

I  cannot  close  these  remarks  without  alluding  to  the 
religious  character  of  Dr.  Hackett  at  that  period  of  his 
life.  Religion  with  him  was  a  thing  of  daily,  practical 
duty.  It  w7as  deep  and  well  grounded,  though  silent  and 
unobtrusive.  His  opinions  were  gravely  considered,  with 
a  manifest  desire  of  reaching  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth ;  and  when  that  point  was  reached,  he  rested 
securely,  and  no  common  wind  of  doctrine  would  disturb 
him.  He  indulged  in  no  dogmatic  assurances  rushing 
onward  with  bold  assumptions  "where  angels  fear  to 
tread."     On  controverted  subjects,  which  have  divided  the 


226  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

opinions  of  able  and  honest  inquirers,  he  exercised  that 
large  and  generous  charity  which  becomes  a  large  and 
cultivated  mind,  and  which  in  the  long  run  and  blending 
of  human  affairs,  and  which  in  relation  to  the  progress  of 
true  religion  in  the  world,  is  of  more  value  than  any 
achievements,  however  splendid,  in  mere  literature,  or 
philology  or  science.  The  habit  of  considering  and 
weighing  the  grounds  of  an  opinion,  of  estimating  the 
real  weight  of  arguments  for  and  against  it ;  and  of  clear- 
ing away  the  rubbish  which  obstructs  the  mental  view,  is 
indispensable  to  the  character  of  a  good  interpreter.  No 
man  can  ever  be  a  great  teacher,  or  win  the  confidence  of 
an  intelligent  public,  who  does  not  fairly  look  at  the 
evidence  of  a  question  in  all  its  bearings ;  and  no  man 
who  does  that  can  ever  be  a  dogmatist  or  a  bigot.  It 
was  one  of  the  admirable  traits  of  Dr.  Hackett,  which  I 
think  I  may  claim  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  he 
carried  to  every  question  he  discussed  a  fairness  and 
candor  worthy  of  all  commendation. 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    HOVEY.  227 


DR.  HACKETT  AT  NEWTON. 

REMARKS   AT   THE    FUNERAL   OF    PROF.  H.  B.  HACKETT,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.,    AT    NEWTON,    NOVEMBER    6,     1 875. 

BY  ALVAH  HOVEY. 

It  is  not  in  my  power  to  stand  before  you  on  this 
occasion  without  recalling  a  service  of  the  same  kind  in 
which  I  was  called  to  participate  less  than  five  months 
ago.  For,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  May,  we  came  into 
this  house  to  testify  our  respect  for  the  character  and 
services  of  Dr.  Ripley,  and  now,  on  the  sixth  of  Novem- 
ber, we  meet  in  the  same  place  to  testify  our  respect  for 
the  character  and  services  of  Dr.  Hackett.  Under  the 
shadow  of  the  Institution  which  they  so  ably  served,  and 
in  the  house  of  prayer  which  they  so  often  visited,  we 
cannot  forget  their  joint  labors  and  blended  influence  in 
behalf  of  sacred  learning,  nor  can  we  doubt  that  the  year 
which  is  drawing  to  a  close  will  be  remembered  by  the 
older  graduates  of  Newton  as  a  year  of  bereavement 
rather  than  as  a  year  of  jubilee.  With  this  brief  allusion 
to  our  double  loss,  I  turn  my  remarks  to  the  life  of  him 
whose  form  is  with  us  to-day,  but  whose  spirit  has  re- 
turned to  God  who  gave  it. 

Horatio  Balch  Hackett,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  was  born  in 
Salisbury,  Mass.,  on  the  27th  of  December,  1808.  In  his 
childhood  he  became  a  lover  of  books.  He  was  fitted 
for  college  in  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,   and  was  grad- 


228  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

uated  at  Amherst  in  1830,  with  the  highest  honors  of  his 
class.  After  one  year  in  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
he  returned  to  Amherst  as  tutor,  for  the  year  183 1-2. 
Resuming  his  theological  studies  he  finished  them  in 
1834,  and  then  engaged  in  teaching  for  a  year  near  Balti- 
more, Md.  In  1835,  he  was  made  Adjunct  Professor  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  in  Brown  University,  and 
three  years  later,  Professor  of  Hebrew  literature  and  the 
classics.  In  1839,  he  took  the  chair  of  Biblical  Literature 
and  Interpretation  in  Newton  Theological  Institution, 
and  filled  it  with  distinguished  ability  twenty-nine  years. 
In  the  Autumn  of  1868,  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
American  Bible  Union,  and  two  years  after  became  Pro- 
fessor of  Biblical  Literature  and  New  Testament  Exegesis 
in  Rochester  Theological  Seminary — an  office  which  he 
filled  till  the  day  of  his  death. 

Dr.  Hackett  spent  the  greater  part  of  1842  in  Halle 
and  Berlin.  In  185 1-2,  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  again, 
and  traveled  in  Italy,  Egypt,  Palestine,  and  other  coun- 
tries. In  1858-9,  he  resided  for  several  months  in  Athens, 
for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  modern  Greek,  and  also 
visited  many  places  in  or  near  Greece  that  were  specially 
interesting  to  a  Biblical  expositor ;  among  these  were 
Corinth,  Neapolis,  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  and  Smyrna. 
He  revisited  Europe  in  1870,  and  again,  for  the  last  time, 
during  the  Summer  of  this  year. 

It  will  be  observed  that  by  far  the  largest  part  of  his 
public  life  was  given  to  the  Seminary  in  this  place,  and 
during  twenty-two  of  the  twenty-nine  years  of  his  con- 
nection with  it  I  was  either  a  pupil  or  a  teacher  in  the 
school.     Permit  me,  then,  to  state  with  the  utmost  sim- 


ADDRESS    BY     DR.    HOVEY.  229 

plicity,  a  few  impressions  which  his  life  here  made  upon 
my  mind. 

Dr.  Hackett  was  a  close  and  a  wise  student.  To  know 
him  well  was  to  know  that  study  was  his  business  and 
delight.  When  he  came  to  Newton,  his  reputation  as  a 
linguist  was  already  high  with  those  who  had  come  under 
his  instruction  or  formed  his  acquaintance,  but  every 
year  of  his  life  in  this  place  added  to  that  reputation. 
For  he  gave  himself  up  to  his  work  with  an  almost  con- 
suming energy ;  and  the  larger  part  of  that  work  was 
study.  His  thirst  for  knowledge,  clear  and  full,  within 
the  limits  which  he  had  marked  out  for  himself,  was 
ardent  and  irrepressible.  It  led  him  to  neglect  for  many 
years  the  bodily  exercise  and  recreation  which  are  con- 
ditions of  permanent  health,  and  when,  after  a  warning 
that  no  man  who  wished  to  live  could  neglect,  he  con- 
sented to  spend  a  part  of  every  day  in  the  open  air,  and 
thus  diminish  his  hours  of  study,  he  seemed  to  leave  his 
books  with  peculiar  reluctance  and  to  return  to  them 
with  inexpressible  fondness.  Yet  he  did  not  treat  them 
as  toys  with  which  to  amuse  his  fancy,  but  as  sources 
of  knowledge,  to  be  sharply  questioned  and  fully  mas- 
tered, or  as  portions  of  the  vast  domain  of  human  and 
divine  thought,  to  be  explored  with  the  keenest  eye,  and 
the  truest  heart.  His  study  was,  therefore,  a  place  of 
intense  mental  and  moral  activity,  and  his  progress  in 
knowledge  often  rapid,  and  rarely  interrupted.  Month 
by  month,  and  year  by  year,  he  added  to  the  stores  of 
learning  which  enriched  his  mind  and  qualified  him  for 
the  high  service  to  which  he  was  called.  Moreover,  he 
recognized  in  his  work  the  great  fact  that  no  man  can 


23O  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

learn  everything  in  this  life,  and  that  to  become  master 
of  any  single  branch  of  knowledge  we  must  practice  a 
certain  degree  of  self-denial  in  respect  to  other  branches. 
He  did  not,  therefore,  suffer  his  attention  to  be  diverted, 
for  any  length  of  time,  from  the  studies  which  belonged 
to  his  own  department.  His  excursions  into  any  other 
domain  were  so  brief  as  never  to  distract  his  mind  or 
divide  his  interest.  To  the  interpretation  of  Scripture 
he  consecrated  his  life,  and  only  those  branches  of 
knowledge  which  promised  him  the  most  help  in  that 
work,  had  any  permanent  and  controlling  influence  on 
his  course  of  study.  The  languages  in  which  our  sacred 
books  were  first  written,  the  events  and  truths  recorded 
in  these  books,  the  lands  in  which  the  events  took  place, 
and  the  books  were  penned,  with  the  peculiarities  and 
customs  of  the  nations  referred  to,  were  the  nucleus  of 
his  system  of  investigation.  But  in  prosecuting  his  in- 
quiries, the  literature  of  Germany  on  Biblical  subjects 
was  indispensable,  and  that  of  France  useful,  a  personal 
inspection  of  places  in  the  Holy  Land  was  important, 
and  familiarity  with  modern  Greek  desirable.  All  these, 
in  addition  to  an  ever-growing  acquaintance  with  the 
literary  and  religious  treasures  of  our  noble  English 
tongue,  were  secured,  so  that  few  men  have  ever  been 
so  fully  in  possession  of  the  knowledge  which  is  requisite 
in  order  to  the  best  interpretation  of  the  Bible. 

Dr.  Hackett  was  also  a  most  instructive  and  stimu- 
lating teacher.  The  exactness  of-  his  knowledge,  the 
beauty  of  his  diction,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  his  spirit, 
always  excited  the  admiration  of  his  pupils,  and  rarely 
failed  to  enkindle  in  their  hearts  a  love  of  biblical  study. 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    HOVEY.  231 

He  came  to  the  class-room  full  of  his  lesson,  from  the 
very  heat  of  investigation  at  his  own  desk,  and  often, 
when  I  was  a  pupil,  at  the  last  moment.  But  he  never 
came  with  a  confused  medley  of  opinions  in  his  mind. 
His  thoughts  were  well-arranged  and  pertinent,  and  his 
words  fell  from  his  lips  with  the  propriety  and  elegance 
of  written  speech.  Not  only  was  he  prepared  to  instruct 
his  pupils,  he  was  also  ready  to  test  their  knowledge  of 
what  he  had  given  them  before,  and  to  exact  from  them 
a  careful  study  of  the  lesson.  If,  misled  by  his  own  quick 
apprehension  and  powerful  memory,  he  sometimes 
expected  more  from  a  dull  mind  than  it  was  able  to 
accomplish,  he  certainly  did  much  to  accelerate  the 
progress  of  many  a  good  intellect  which  had  never  been 
roused  to  the  highest  exertion.  But  he  was  intolerant  of 
stupidity.  Moreover,  like  every  other  good  teacher,  he 
excelled  in  certain  directions ;  and,  if  I  may  judge  by  my 
recollection  of  his  work,  he  exhibited  uncommon  skill  in 
detecting  and  bringing  to  view  the  finer  shadings  of 
thought  in  both  words  and  sentences,  and  also  in  gather- 
ing up  and  presenting  all  the  personal,  local,  and  historical 
circumstances  which  affect  in  any  way  the  significance  of 
language.  Well  do  I  recollect  the  admiration  which  he 
expressed  for  the  great  work  of  Conybeare  and  Howson 
on  "  The  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,"  at  its  first 
appearance,  and  the  lively  interest  which  he  manifested  in 
ascertaining  all  the  surroundings  of  the  apostle  as  he 
preached  in  different  cities  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It  is 
not,  therefore,  surprising  that  his  visit  to  Egypt  and 
Palestine  was  of  signal  advantage  to  him  as  a  teacher  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.      His  previous  studies  qualified  him 


232  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

to  see  the  sacred  places  with  profit,  and  his  fine  descrip- 
tive powers  enabled  him  to  portray  distinctly  what  he 
had  seen.  It  should  also  be  remarked,  that  his  peculiarly 
sensitive  nature  responded  quickly  to  all  the  changes  of 
feeling  that  find  expression  in  lyric  poetry,  and  that  it  was 
a  rare  privilege  to  sit  at  his  feet  as  he  interpreted  the 
psalms  of  David.  And,  therefore,  with  reference  to  the 
seminary  which  he  served  in  this  place,  I  may  repeat 
what  I  said  at  our  last  anniversary,  "  that,  for  a  consider- 
able period,  at  least,  his  was  the  name  that  attracted 
young  men  to  this  school,  and  his  the  ability  which 
retained  them  here.  Not  only  by  the  accuracy  of  his 
knowledge,  but  also  by  the  singular  beauty  of  his 
language,  did  he  charm  and  inspire  the  classes  under  his 
charge,  and  wield  a  potent  influence  in  favor  of  Christian 
culture." 

At  the  close  of  his  services  in  this  Institution,  the 
trustees  expressed  their  appreciation  of  his  character  and 
work  in  a  just  and  appropriate  tribute.  [The  speaker  here 
recited  the  words  of  this  tribute,  which  will  be  found  on 
pages  1 44-5.] 

Dr.  Hackett  was  a  distinguished  author.  His  literary 
activity  began  soon  after  he  came  to  this  Institution,  and 
closed  with  his  life.  He  studied  with  pen  in  hand,  and 
reduced  the  fruits  of  his  investigation  to  form  and  sym- 
metry. Not  to  mention  numerous  articles  from  his  pen 
in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  and  Christian  Review,  he  gave 
several  volumes  of  permanent  value  to  the  public.  His 
edition  of  Plutarch's  treatise  on  "  The  Delay  of  the  Deity 
in  the  Punishment  of  the  Wicked,"  was  published  early, 
in  1844,  was  enriched  with  critical  and  historical  notes, 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    HOVEY.  233 

and  was  used  for  some  years  by  his  classes  in  the  Semi- 
nary. His  translation  of  Winer's  "Grammar  of  the 
Chaldee  Language  "  appeared  the  following  year,  and  his 
"Hebrew  Exercises,"  a  small  volume  costing  a  great 
amount  of  labor,  in  1S47,  two  years  later.  From  that 
time  onward,  till  1851,  he  applied  himself  to  the  prepara- 
tion of  "A  Commentary  on  the  Original  Text  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,"  a  work  which  has  been  recognized  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  as  an  honor  to  the  biblical 
scholarship  of  America.  A  new  edition  of  this  commen- 
tary, revised  and  greatly  enlarged,  was  issued  in  1858. 
Meanwhile  he  gave  to  the  world  a  volume  entitled, 
"Illustrations  of  Scripture,  suggested  by  a  tour  through 
the  Holy  Land,"  and  I  cannot  forbear  making  a  single 
extract  from  this  volume,  to  show  the  exquisite  beauty  of 
his  style  in  description. 

After  expressing  his  disappointment  at  not  finding  for 
a  while  any  specimens  of  the  mustard-plant  large  enough 
to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  our  Lord's  parable  of  the 
mustard-seed,  he  proceeds  thus :  "  Some  days  after  this, 
as  I  was  riding  across  the  plain  of  Akka,  on  the  way  to 
Carmel,  I  perceived  at  some  distance  from  the  path  what 
seemed  to  be  a  little  forest  or  nursery  of  trees.  I  turned 
aside  to  examine  them.  On  coming  nearer,  they  proved 
to  be  an  extensive  field  of  the  plant  which  I  was  so 
anxious  to  see.  It  was  then  in  blossom,  full  grown,  in 
some  cases  six,  seven,  and  nine  feet  high,  with  a  stem  or 
trunk  an  inch  or  more  in  thickness,  throwing  out  branches 
on  every  side.  I  was  satisfied  in  part.  I  felt  that  such  a 
plant  might  well  be  called  a  tree,  and,  in  comparison  with 
the  seed  producing  it,  a  great  tree.     But  still  the  branches, 


234  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

or  stems  of  the  branches,  were  not  very  large,  or,  appar- 
ently, very  strong.  Can  the  birds,  I  said  to  myself,  rest 
upon  them  ?  Are  they  not  too  slight  and  flexible  ?  Will 
they  not  bend  or  break  beneath  the  superadded  weight? 
At  that  very  instant,  as  I  stood  and  revolved  the  thought, 
lo!  one  of  the  fowls  of  heaven  stopped  in  its  flight 
through  the  air,  alighted  down  on  one  of  the  branches, 
which  hardly  moved  beneath  the  shock,  and  then  began, 
perched  there  before  my  eyes,  to  warble  forth  a  strain  of 
the  richest  music.  All  my  doubts  were  now  charmed 
away.  I  was  delighted  at  the  incident.  It  seemed  to  me 
at  the  moment  as  if  I  enjoyed  enough  to  repay  me  for  all 
the  trouble  of  the  whole  journey."  This  description  is 
perfect,  so  perfect,  indeed,  that  no  man  who  has  read  it 
would  gain  anything  by  seeing  with  his  own  eyes  what 
the  writer  saw. 

His  next  volume  was  "  Notes  on  the  Greek  Text  of 
the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  Philemon,  and  a  Revised  Version  " 
of  that  text,  prepared  for  the  American  Bible  Union,  and 
published  in  i860.  This  was  followed,  in  1863,  by  a  trans- 
lation of  Van  Oosterzee's  Commentary  on  the  same 
epistle,  in  the  series  edited  by  Dr.  SchafT;  in  1864,  by 
"Memorials  of  Christian  Men  in  the  War;"  and,  in  1870, 
by  a  translation  of  Braune's  Commentary  on  the  Epistle 
to  the  Philippians,  which  belongs  to  the  series  just 
named,  and  to  which  he  made  important  additions.  If 
we  add  to  these  works  the  articles  which  he  furnished 
for  the  first  edition  of  "  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible," 
and  the  large  contributions  which  he  made  to  the  Amer- 
ican edition  of  that  work,  together  with  his  notes  to  a 
recent  American  edition  of  Rawlinson's  "  Historical  Illus- 


ADDRESS    BY    DR    HOVEY.  235 

trations  of  the  Old  Testament,"  it  might  almost  appear 
as  if  his  life  had  been  given  to  authorship.  For  whatever 
he  did,  he  did  well;  "whatever  he  touched,  he  adorned." 
My  sole  regret,  as  I  review  this  part  of  his  career,  is  that 
he  did  not  give  to  the  people  more  commentaries  of  his 
own,  instead  of  translating  the  works  of  others. 

Dr.  Hackett  was  also  a  genuine  philanthropist.  He 
had  a  keen  appreciation  of  evil,  and  saw  the  dark  side  of 
human  life  quite  as  distinctly  as  the  bright.  Oppression 
of  any  kind  excited  his  indignation,  and  suffering  of  any 
kind,  whether  bodily  or  mental,  his  sympathy.  Never 
shall  I  forget  his  intense  displeasure  at  the  surrender  of 
the  fugitive  Burns,  under  the  operation  of  a  law  which 
he  condemned  as  unchristian  and  unholy.  Slavery  he 
abhorred  ;  and  when  the  war  began  he  lifted  up  his  voice 
against  those  who  had  brought  it  on  the  nation.  Indeed, 
so  eloquently  did  he  speak,  and  so  warmly  did  he  testify 
his  admiration  for  the  young  men  who  left  their  pleasant 
homes  among  us  to  offer  -their  lives  for  the  sacred  cause, 
that  when  the  noise  of  war  was  hushed,  and  the  citizens 
of  Newton  would  dedicate  a  monument  to  their  fallen 
sons,  Dr.  Hackett  was  selected  to  pronounce  an  oration 
in  honor  of  the  dead ;  and  near  the  granite  shaft  in  our 
beautiful  cemetery,  in  sight  almost  of  the  grave  where  his 
body  is  soon  to  be  laid,  he  addressed  his  fellow-townsmen 
with  a  beauty  of  language,  a  tenderness  of  sentiment,  and 
a  depth  of  wisdom  which  could  not  well  be  surpassed  or 
forgotten.  Nor  will  I  hesitate  to  recall  the  fact  that 
when,  during  the  progress  and  darkness  of  that  awful 
conflict,  it  was  thought  prudent  to  form  a  home  guard 
and  accustom  some  of  the  older  citizens  to  military  terms 


236  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

and  movements,  he  took  his  place  in  the  ranks  and 
endeavored  to  prepare  himself  for  possible  service.  But, 
if  I  mistake  not,  the  deepest  source  of  his  sympathy  with 
the  North  in  that  strife,  was  not  his  love  of  country,  but 
his  love  of  man  ;  was  not  his  desire  that  the  Union  might 
be  preserved  unbroken,  but  that  right  might  prevail  and 
oppression  cease.  Doubtless  both  desires  were  in  his 
heart,  but,  so  far  as  I  can  recall  his  words,  the  latter  was 
stronger  than  the  former.  At  all  events,  I  am  certain  of 
his  profound  interest  in  the  welfare  of  those  classes  of 
men  who  seem  less  highly  favored  by  the  gifts  of  Provi- 
dence in  their  earthly  lot  than  some  of  their  brothers. 

Dr.  Hackett  was  likewise  a  sincere  and  humble  Chris- 
tian. As  he  was  a  man,  he  had  faults  to  lament,  and  sins 
to  confess ;  but  he  knew  the  only  sufficient  Helper,  and 
to  him  he  resorted  for  grace  in  time  of  need.  En- 
dowed with  rare  powers,  which  were  cultivated  with 
unremitting  diligence,  and  used  for  noble  ends,  he  was 
not  unconscious  at  times  of  his  claim  upon  the  respect 
and  even  gratitude  of  his  fellow  men ;  but  before  his 
Maker  and  Redeemer,  he  ever  put  off  the  shoes  from  his 
feet,  and  bowed  down  in  spirit  as  a  little  child.  No  one 
could  listen  to  his  voice  in  prayer  without  feeling  that  he 
drew  near  to  the  mercy  seat,  without  recognizing  in 
every  word  and  tone  the  very  spirit  of  penitence  and 
faith  and  gracious  apprehension  of  the  loving  kindness 
of  God,  which  is  the  surest  evidence  of  divine  life  in  the 
soul.  And,  though  he  was  rarely  present  at  the  social 
meetings  of  the  church,  yet  when  he  did  appear  and 
take  part  in  the  service,  it  was  always  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  awaken  sincere  regret  in  the  hearts  of  all  that  he 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    HOVEY.  237 

should  ever  be  absent.  The  depth  of  his  Christian  life 
was  also  revealed  by  his  treatment  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. For  it  is  not  too  much  for  me  to  say,  that  he 
manifested  an  absolute  and  unwavering  confidence  in 
their  divine  character  and  authority.  The  word  of  a 
sacred  writer  was  to  him  the  word  of  the  living  God, 
and  he  paid  to  it  the  homage  of  unqualified  faith.  What 
a  lesson  to  the  young  men  under  his  instruction  !  And 
what  an  example  to  those  who  have  not  bestowed  on 
that  Word  a  thousandth  part  of  the  study  which  he  gave 
to  it !  This  study  was  to  him  a  pleasure  as  well  as  a 
duty ;  for  he  found  springs  of  holy  thought  and  comfort 
in  the  inspired  Word,  and  these  became,  as  it  were,  wells 
of  water  in  his  own  soul  springing  up  into  everlasting  life. 
Indeed,  the  assurance  with  which  he  rested  on  the  testi- 
mony of  Scripture,  was  a  joy  to  us  all.  And  as  he 
advanced  in  years  and  in  knowledge,  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  the  breadth  and  richness  and  mellowness 
of  his  experience,  kept  pace  with  his  mental  growth, 
so  that  those  who  have  been  intimate  with  him  of  late 
have  seen  the  richest  fruits  of  grace  in  his  life.  Famil- 
iarity with  sacred  things  did  not  diminish,  but  it  rather 
augmented  and  purified  his  reverence  for  them. 

Such  was  Dr.  Hackett,  as  known  to  his  pupils  and 
associates  in  labor.  To  his  own  family  I  am  certain  that 
he  was  far  more  than  this.  A  faithful  husband,  an  indul- 
gent father,  a  kind  protector,  a  wise  counsellor,  he  was 
their  honor  and  their  stay;  and  now  they  must  feel,  more 
deeply  than  words  can  express,  that  the  light  of  their 
household  has  gone  out.  To  the  sacredness  of  their 
sorrow    I    venture   not    to   approach    with    any    thought 


238  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

of  my  own,  but  will  only  ask  them  to  appropriate,  as 
far  as  present  grief  will  allow,  the  sentiment  of  one  who 
knew  the  bitterness  of  affliction  :  "  The  Lord  gave,  and 
the  Lord  hath  taken  away  ;  and  blessed  be  the  name 
of  the  Lord."  Their  loss  is  great,  the  loss  of  the  Semi- 
nary in  Rochester  is  great,  the  loss  of  the  denomination 
is  great,  and  the  loss  of  the  Christian  world  is  great  ;  but 
He  that  is  wiser  than  the  wisest  has  done  it,  and  his 
language  to  us  now,  is :  "  Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am 
God." 


REMARKS    BY    DR.    ROBINSON.  239 


REMINISCENCES  OF  DR.  HACKETT, 

AT    PROVIDENCE,    NEWTON,    AND    ROCHESTER.      BY    REV. 
E.    G.    ROBINSON,  I).    I).,    LL.    D. 

Dr.  Robinson  was  prevented  from  being  at  the  funeral  of  Dr. 
Hackett  by  sudden  and  severe  illness,  and  has  desired  it  to  be  men- 
tioned, that  what  follows  is  furnished  as  a  brief  and  meagre  outline 
of  what  would  have  been  said  at  Newton,  on  that  occasion. 

It  was  forty  years  ago  this  Autumn  that  I  first  saw  our 
departed  friend.  He  had  then  but  just  entered  on  his 
duties  as  Adjunct  Professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  Lan- 
guages, in  Brown  University,  at  which  I  was  a  student  in 
the  Sophomore  class.  Though  at  that  time  but  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age,  and  with  but  two  years  of  experience 
as  a  teacher,  he  entered  as  quietly  upon  the  duties  of  his 
chair,  and  assumed  as  firm  a  hold  on  his  classes  as  if  he 
had  been  a  veteran  instructor.  As  I  now  remember  him, 
there  was  the  same  placid  countenance,  the  same  silent 
but  contagious  earnestness  of  purpose,  the  same  quick, 
critical  eye  and  ear,  which  have  been  so  manifest  to  all 
the  successive  classes,  that  through  the  forty  years  since 
have  come  under  his  instruction. 

His  coming  to  Brown  University  brought  with  it  a 
new  life  to  the  classical  studies  of  that  Institution.  None 
came  under  his  tuition  without  feeling  at  once  the  quick- 
ening influence  of  his  method  and  spirit.  Many  a  man 
is  remembering  to-day,  with  renewed  and  deepened  sense 
of  gratitude,  his  indebtedness  for  those  long  past  days  of 
instruction. 


24O  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

But  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  youthful  Professor 
at  Brown  had  tastes  and  rare  qualification  for  something 
higher  and  more  useful  than  the  work  of  an  adjunct  pro- 
fessorship in  Latin  and  Greek.  A  new  professorship  was 
accordingly  created  for  him,  with  the  title  of  "Hebrew 
and  Classical  Literature."  That  professorship  he  occupied 
two  years,  when  the  wider  and  more  attractive  field  was 
opened  to  him  in  the  chair  of  "Biblical  Literature,"  in  the 
Newton  Theological  Institution. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  improper  to  say,  that  it  was  the  coming 
of  our  friend  to  Newton,  which  finally  turned  hither  my 
own  uncertain  steps ;  and  I  shall  never  cease  to  be  grate- 
ful for  that  divine  providence  which  made  me  a  member 
of  his  first  class  of  Theological  students.  In  after  years 
his  views  were  certainly  more  mature,  his  criticisms 
possibly  more  exact  and  assured,  and  his  general  range 
of  knowledge  greatly  widened,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  all 
this  were  not  more  than  compensated  for,  by  the  first 
freshness  of  feeling  with  which  he  was  then  entering 
on  the  work  of  his  life.  The  dew  of  his  youth  was  still 
on  him.  The  hopes  of  early  manhood,  devout,  but  ear- 
nest and  aspiring,  expressed  themselves  in  every  feature 
of  his  face,  and  gave  vigor  and  animation  to  every  tone  of 
his  voice.  Himself  working  each  day  with  all  the  energy 
of  which  he  was  capable,  he  came  to  his  duties  with  the 
glad  feeling  of  one  who  was  daily  making  new  discoveries. 
His  studies  were  a  continual  delight  to  him  ;  he  could 
not  understand  how  they  could  be  otherwise  to  any  one 
else.  Well  do  I  remember,  how,  more  than  once,  aroused 
by  the  neglect  or  apparent  indifference  of  some  one  in 
the    work   of   the   class,   he   dropped   his   text-book   and 


REMARKS    BY    DR.    ROBINSON.  24I 

poured  forth  words  and  sentiments  that  thrilled  all  our 
hearts,  and  quickened  our  intellects.  Seeming  to  catch 
the  spirit  of  his  author,  perhaps  a  prophet,  or  the  Apostle 
Paul,  he  solemnly  adjured  us  to  be  diligent  and  faithful 
in  our  work.  And  in  the  memories  of  some  who  then 
heard  him,  his  words  have  remained  as  those  of  an  ever- 
present  monitor. 

Between  the  close  of  my  studies  as  a  Theological  stu- 
dent, and  the  removal  of  Dr.  Hackett  to  Rochester,  I 
had  met  him  but  occasionally.  When,  as  colleagues,  our 
relations  brought  us  into  daily  intercourse,  I  found  the 
ardor  of  the  youthful  Professor,  chastened,  it  is  true,  by 
age,  but  elevated  into  a  uniform  and  sustained  enthusiasm. 
Instead  of  wearying  of  his  work  as  an  instructor,  he 
seemed  to  come  to  each  day's  tasks  with  new  zeal.  As 
he  had  once  looked  forward  with  ardor  to  the  long  future, 
so  now  he  seemed  to  be  stimulated  by  a  sense  of  the 
shortness  of  the  time  remaining.  He  saw,  with  increasing 
clearness,  the  relation  of  his  work  as  an  exegete  to  the 
latest  of  the  conflicts  of  Christianity  with  error.  I  re- 
member how,  in  the  later  years,  an  allusion  to  the  con- 
nexion of  a  minute  study  of  the  Gospels  with  the  needed 
apologetics  of  our  time,  called  forth  a  succession  of 
profound  and  inspiring  thoughts  which  could  have  come 
only  from  the  accumulated  reflections  of  years ;  and  they 
came  so  freighted  with  emotion,  and  so  conveyed  by 
look  and  language  and  gesture,  as  to  leave  an  impression, 
which  I  am  sure  I  never  shall  lose. 

And  what  he  was  as  a  companion  in  the  interchange 
of  thought,  he  also  was  as  a  teacher  in  the  lecture-room. 

The  most  insensible  could  not  escape  the  contagion  of 

17 


242  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

his  noiseless  but  felt  enthusiasm.  The  attention  of  the 
most  indifferent  was  aroused  and  fastened  on  him.  He 
saw  in  the  text  which  he  expounded  what  the  common 
eye  overlooked.  Men  went  from  his  lecture-room  with 
the  feeling  that  the  Bible  was  a  book  which  they  had 
not  known  before  how  to  study. 

The  last  years  of  our  friend's  life,  it  is  gratifying  to 
know,  were  among  his  happiest.  He  seems  never  to 
have  enjoyed  the  work  of  a  teacher  more.  Possibly  the 
veil  that  hides  the  invisible  world  grew  thinner  to  his 
gaze,  and  unseen  things  became  increasingly  real  to  him  ; 
but  certain  it  is  that  the  events  in  the  life  of  our  Lord 
and  his  words  were  never  dwelt  on  with  more  satisfac- 
tion to  himself,  or  with  better  results  in  his  pupils. 

And  surely,  his  was  a  fit  ending  to  such  a  life.  From 
expounding  the  words  of  the  Divine  Master,  and  his 
Apostles,  he  was  translated,  almost  at  once,  to  speak  face 
to  face  with  the  Apostles,  and  with  the  Master  Himself. 
The  faithful  servant,  his  work  well  done,  has  entered  into 
the  joy  of  his  Lord. 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    PEABODY.  243 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SCHOLAR. 

AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  FUNERAL   OF   REV.  HORATIO 

B.    HACKETT,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,    BY    REV.    ANDREW    P. 

PEABODY,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,    NOV.    6,    1 8  75. 

Paul  could  say  with  literal  truth:  "I  know  nothing  but 
Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified;"  for  his  ever-active  and 
assimilating  faith  in  his  Divine  Lord  had  absorbed  into 
its  own  substance  all  that  he  had  acquired  from  his  liberal 
culture  at  Tarsus  and  Jerusalem,  from  his  travels  in  many 
lands,  and  his  unprecedentedly  rich  and  varied  experience.. 
No  motto,  methinks,  could  be  more  appropriate  than 
this  to  our  friend,  to  whom  we  are  now  paying  our  tribute 
of  honor,  reverence  and  love.  He  was  preeminently 
learned,  and  his  scholarship  had  the  widest  range,  embrac- 
ing things  ancient  and  modern,  sacred  and  classical,  the 
works  of  God  and  the  ways  of  men ;  but  his  learning 
was  all  sanctified,  transmuted  into  the  knowledge  of  God 
and  his  Word,  made  availing  for  the  interpretation  of  the 
sacred  volume,  with  its  central  figure  of  the  Redeemer, 
and  its  culminating  power  and  glory  in  his  cross. 

As  a  critical  scholar  of  the  New  Testament,  he  has 
left  few  equals,  no  superior.  I  first  became  acquainted 
with  him  through  his  Commentary  on  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  which  seems  to  me  second  to  no  work  of  its 
kind  in  any  language.  In  this,  as  in  all  his  similar  writ- 
ings that  have  come  under  my  eye,  he  unites  two  qualities, 
the  absence  of  either  of  which  destroys  the  worth  of  a 
scriptural    commentary,  —  the    intrepidity  of  the  scholar 


244  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

who  thoroughly  knows  his  ground,  and  the  piety  of  him 
who  never  forgets  that  it  is  holy  ground.  In  all  questions 
of  philology  and  interpretation,  he  treats  the  sacred  record 
with  the  same  searching  scrutiny  and  judicial  impartiality 
with  which  he  would  handle  any  literary  monuments  of 
antiquity ;  but,  its  sense  once  ascertained,  it  is  no  longer 
the  word  of  man,  but  the  testimony  of  those  who  wrote 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

For  the  last  twenty  years  or  more,  it  has  been  my 
privilege  to  know  him  personally,  never  with  any  close- 
ness of  intimacy,  but  with  a  constantly  growing  admiration 
and  affection.  While  there  were  not  wanting  occasions 
on  which  he  showed  an  impregnable  strength  of  character 
and  the  capacity  of  vigorous  aggression  on  wrong  and 
evil,  he  most  impressed  me  by  his  meekness,  gentleness 
and  modesty.  No  man  could  have  been  less  capable  of 
self-assertion.  Honors  came  to  him,  not  because  he 
sought,  or  expected,  or  even  desired  them,  but  because  he 
could  not  evade  them.  He  seemed  in  solitary  ignorance 
of  his  own  scholarly  merits  and  well-earned  fame.  The 
last  that  I  saw  of  him  was  characteristic  of  his  whole  life 
and  spirit.  It  was  in  the  class-room  at  Rochester,  at  a 
quasi  public  examination,  in  the  presence  of  a  consider- 
able number  of  clergymen  and  men  of  classical  culture, 
before  whom  he  might  easily  have  made,  and  was 
probably  by  some  expected  to  make,  a  brilliant  and 
attractive  display  of  his  own  critical  acumen,  ability  and 
learning.  But  I  soon  found  that  his  sole  and  absorbing 
aim  was  to  bring  out  all  that  was  in  his  pupils,  to  put 
them  at  their  ease  in  the  presence  of  strangers,  and  to 
ensure   for   them    the    opportunity   of  doing  themselves 


ADDRESS    BY    DR.    PEABODY.  245 

justice.  I  went  into  the  class-room  for  an  exhibition  of 
scholarship  ;  I  came  away  with  a  lesson  of  self-forgetting 
kindness  and  humility. 

While  we  are  thankful  for  the  memorials  of  our  friend's 
genius  and  industry,  which  have  ensured  for  him  an 
enduring  place  among  the  foremost  names  in  sacred 
literature,  we  most  of  all  love,  at  this  moment,  to  recog- 
nize in  his  sweet  simplicity,  in  his  fervent  piety,  in  his 
single-hearted  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  the  tokens 
of  his  nearness  to  the  heart  of  his  Saviour,  of  his  close 
walk  with  God,  of  a  pilgrimage  all  whose  steps  were 
heavenward.  The  close  of  such  a  life  is  but  translation, 
ascension.  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  appalling  suddenness 
of  his  removal — so  full  of  dread  to  those  who  hung  upon 
his  lips,  and  from  whom  more  than  half  of  life  seemed  to 
go  when  he  went  from  them — was  to  him  a  boon  from 
heaven.  It  was  his  blessed  privilege  to  prolong  his  life- 
work  to  the  last  moment  on  earth,  and  with  no  weary 
waiting,  no  slow  decline  and  decay,  but  in  full  activity  of 
mind  and  with  undimmed  fervor  of  spirit,  to  pass  from 
the  altar-service  below  to  that  above, — from  the  minis- 
tration of  the  written  word  to  the  open  vision  of  those 
nearest  the  throne,  where  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb 
is  their  everlasting  light  and  joy. 


MEMORIAL  TRIBUTES. 


FROM  ACADEMICAL  AND  CLERICAL  BODIES. 


FACULTY    OF    ROCHESTER    SEMINARY.  249 

THE    FACULTY 

OF    THE 

ROCHESTER  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY. 

Professor  William  C.  Wilkinson,  by  desire  of  his  asso- 
ciates, presented  the  following  as  an  expression  of  their 
sentiments : — 

The  Faculty  of  the  Seminary  desire  to  put  on  record 
some  suitable  expression  of  their  sense  of  loss  as  a  body, 
in  the  death  of  their  venerated  and  beloved  associate, 
Dr.  H.  B.  Hackett.  They  adopt  accordingly  the  follow- 
ing minute : — 

It  was  the  fortune  of  most  of  them  to  know  Dr. 
Hackett  only  in  the  mellow  ripeness  of  the  beautiful 
latter  years  of  his  life.  The  purity  and  gentleness  of 
that  period  with  him,  were  enhanced  to  their  appre- 
ciation by  the  tradition  that  accompanied  him  to  the 
last,  of  the  native  strength  and  strenuousness  of  his 
character. 

The  clearness  of  his  mind,  the  candor  of  his  judgment, 

the  chastened   sweetness  of  his   spirit,   his   conscientious 

scholarship,    the   true    and    incisive   phrase   in   which   he 

spoke,  his  singular  unworldliness,  the  childlikeness  with 

which   he  was  willing  to  learn,  the  paternal   kindliness 

with  which  he  was  patient  to  teach,  the  singleness  and 

intentness  of  his  devction  to  his  one  work  in  life — these 

recollections  of  their  departed    brother  and  father,  will 

always  remain  with  them   an   inspiration  to   whatever  is 

clear  and  high  in  aim,  and  to  whatever  is  pure  and  lovely 

in  character. 

Records  of  the  Faculty. 


25O  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 


THE    TRUSTEES 

OF    THE 

ROCHESTER  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY. 

The  Executive  Board  of  the  New  York  Baptist  Union 
for  Ministerial  Education,  desire  to  put  upon  record  an 
expression  of  the  profound  sorrow  with  which  they  have 
received  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  the  Reverend 
Horatio  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  so  lately  Professor 
of  Biblical  Literature  and  New  Testament  Exegesis, 
in  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  under  their 
care. 

With  gratitude,  and  with  the  highest  hopes,  we  wel- 
comed him  five  years  ago,  to  his  new  place  of  work 
as  teacher  in  the  Original  Scriptures.  With  equal 
gratitude  we  recognize  at  this  time,  the  great  service 
he  has  rendered  to  the  Institution  with  which  these 
last  years  of  his  life  were  identified,  and  the  well-nigh 
irreparable  loss  which,  not  only  our  Seminary,  but  the 
cause  of  sacred  learning  in  America,  has  sustained  in 
his  death. 

We  cherish  with  peculiar  interest  and  pleasure,  the 
memory  of  his  single-hearted  devotion  to  his  work  ;  of 
his  inspiring  influence  upon  successive  companies  of 
students  who  sat  under  his  instruction  ;  of  his  unaffected 
and  retiring  manners,  evincing  the  true  humility  of  a 
Christian  scholar;  and,  above  all,  of  his  unwavering 
confidence  in  that  Word  of  God,  upon  which  he  based 
all  his  hopes,  both  for  himself  and  for  the  world. 


TRUSTEES    OF    ROCHESTER    SEMINARY.  25 1 

In  communicating  this  minute  to  the  family  of  our 
departed  associate  and  friend,  we  desire  to  add  to  our 
expression  of  heartfelt  regret  and  sympathy,  a  recognition 
of  special  obligation  for  their  generous  gift  to  the  Roches- 
ter Theological  Seminary  of  so  large  a  portion  of  Dr. 
Hackett's  library.  We  gratefully  accept  the  gift  with 
the  conditions  annexed,  and  invoke  upon  the  givers 
Heaven's  richest  blessings  of  guidance  and  comfort  for- 
ever. 

Austin  H.  Cole, 

Recording  Secretary. 


252  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 


THE     FACULTY 

OF    THE 

NEWTON    THEOLOGICAL    INSTITUTION. 

At  a  meeting  o\~  the  Faculty  held  November  4th,  1S75, 
the  following-  memorial  presented  by  Professor  Caldwell 
was  unanimously  adopted: 

The  Faculty  of  the  Newton  Theological  Institution 
have  heard  oi  the  decease  oi  Professor  Horatio  B.  Hack- 
ett,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  with  sincere  sorrow,  and  desire  to  place 
on  record,  and  to  convey  to  his  family,  their  profound 
sense  of  the  loss  sustained  by  his  friends,  and  by  the  cause 
of  sacred  learning,  to  which  his  life  has  been  devoted. 
We  have  all  been  his  pupils,  and  have  felt  for  him  the 
love  and  reverence  which  belong  to  a  teacher  so  enthusi- 
astic, so  stimulating,  so  thorough  in  his  methods,  and  SO 
affluent  in  his  resources.  His  services  to  this  Institution, 
prolonged  through  twenty-nine  years,  were  such  as  will 
command  the  grateful  remembrance  o(  all  its  sons.  His 
acquisitions  and  his  contributions  as  a  crititical  student 
of  the  Scriptures  have  been  already  recognized  by  con- 
temporary scholars,  and  give  him  an  eminent  and  almost 
surpassing  place  among  men.  His  spirit  and  his  life  have 
been  worthy  oi  his  gifts  and  attainments,  and  they  all 
are  a  precious  recollection  to  his  associates,  his  pupils,  and 
his  friends,  for  which  they  may  well  cherish  gratitude  to 
the  gracious  Giver  of  all  good  and  excellent  gifts. 

A  true  copy.  O.  S.  Stearns, 

Secretary  of  the  Faculty. 


NEW    York    MINISTERIAL    CONFERENCE.  25 


RESOLUTIONS   ON   TIIK    DEATH 

OF 

REV.    HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT,    I).    I). 

Presented  at  the  Conference  of  Baptist  Ministers  of 
New  York  and  vicinity,  by  Rev.  Dr.  G.  W.  Samson,  and 
unanimously  adopted,  Nov.  8th,  1875. 

Resolved,  That  this  Conference  recognizes  the  marked 

providence  of  God,  in  calling  from  his  finished  work  the 
Rev.  II.  B.  I  lackctt,  D.  D.,  whose  life  was  spent  in  suc- 
cessive Professorships  at  Brown  Universitv,  and  at  the 
Theological  Institutions  of  Newton  and  Rochester. 

Resolved,  That  our  gratitude  is  due  to  the  Divine 
Head  of  the  Church,  in  giving  to  the  Christian  world, 
during  an  active  life  of  forty  years,  one  whose  personal 
example  so  honored  "The  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus;"  whose 
devoted  labors  as  an  instructor  have  formed  the  character 
of  some  of  the  ripest  scholars  of  our  age;  and  whose 
published  writings  are  such  models  of  complete  scholar- 
ship, and  of  ardent  love  to  Christ  and  his  cause,  that  his 
followers  in  future  ages  will  be  aided  b\r  their  instruction. 

Resolved,  That  while  bowing  to  the  will  of  that  Divine 
Spirit,  who  formed  him  for  a  higher  world,  and  took  him 
when  ripe,  to  its  enjoyment,  we  deeply  sympathize  with 
his  bereaved  family ;  many  of  ourselves  having  lost  in 
him  a  spiritual  father. 

Daniel  C.  Potter, 

Secretary. 


254  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 


HORATIO  BALCH   HACKETT. 

The  following  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  late 
Horatio  B.  Hackett,  prepared  by  Rev.  Granville  S. 
Abbott,  was  adopted  at  a  session  of  the  Boston  Minis- 
terial Conference,  November  15,  1875  : — 

The  committee  ordered  by  your  Conference,  at  your 
last  meeting,  to  prepare  some  resolutions  upon  the  char- 
acter and  labors  of  Rev.  Horatio  Balch  Hackett,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.,  whose  sudden  death  occurred  at  Rochester,  N.Y., 
November  2,  1875,  nave  attended  to  their  tender  and 
delicate  duty,  and  beg  leave  to  present  their  report. 

If  ever  there  is  a  time  to  weep,  it  is  at  the  time  of  the 
taking  away  from  earth  of  the  truly  great  and  good. 
There  are  more  good  than  great  among  men.  There  are 
more  great  than  great  and  good.  But  of  the  few  of  the 
earth  who  have  been  both  great  and  good,  Dr.  Hackett 
must  be  one  to  receive  the  memento  of  our  reverent 
regard  and  love.  To  echo  the  appreciative  words  of 
those  who  have  already  contributed  their  encomiums 
of  no  faint  praise  over  the  remains  of  this  great  man  is 
not  our  design.  Little  indeed  is  left  to  be  said  after  the 
just  and  beautiful  tributes  that  have  been  paid  to  this 
distinguished  Christian  scholar  by  Rochester,  Andover, 
Amherst,  Harvard,  Brown  and  Newton  presidents  and 
professors.  Of  his  early  academic,  collegiate  and  theologi- 
cal studies ;  of  the  spheres  of  his  activity  as  an  instructor 
at    Amherst,    at    Baltimore,    at    Brown,    at    Newton,    at 


BOSTON    MINISTERIAL    CONFERENCE.  255 

Rochester;  of  the  character  and  extent  of  his  authorship  ; 
of  the  time  and  place  and  manner  of  his  sudden  departure 
from  us,  it  is  but  repetition  to  speak. 

All  that  we  are  constrained  to  do  is  to  add  our  little 
wreath  of  laurel  to  the  rich  and  abounding  flowers  of 
gratitude  and  affection  that  already  crown  the  place  of 
his  rest. 

The  first  acquaintance  formed  by  many  of  us  with 
Dr.  Hackett,  was  with  him,  as  a  teacher,  in  the  class-room. 
It  was  there  he  was  most  mighty.  Even  as  the  celebrated 
jurist,  Rufus  Choate,  is  said  to  have  been  in  his  grandest 
moods  when  pleading  comparatively  alone,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  few,  so  we  recall  our  teacher's  potent  and 
inspiring  eloquence  in  the  sparsely  filled  class-rooms  of 
past  years.  It  was  there  we  saw  his  genius  flash ;  there 
that  his  magnetic  enthusiasm  thrilled  our  souls;  there 
that  the  qualities  of  his  exact  exegetical  scholarship,  and 
of  his  sharp,  incisive,  yet  graceful  English  diction,  had 
daily  illustration ;  there  that  every  promise  of  youth 
had  quick  and  continuous  recognition.  What  a  teacher 
was  Arnold  !  What  a  teacher  was  Way  land !  What  a 
teacher  was  Hackett!  How  his  pupils  will  miss  him! 
But  he  has  gone  from  the  class-room.  He  will  speak  no 
more  in  that  forum.  He  has  passed  from  the  glow  of 
his  Messianic  interpretations  into  the  presence  of  the 
Messiah  returned  from  His  incarnation  to  the  realm  of 
His  exaltation  and  glory.  He  will  never  take  up  the 
mislaid  page  of  expositions  upon  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  but  evermore  as  a  devoted  pupil  will  dwell 
with  Paul,  the  master  he  loved  so  well. 

We   knew   him  as  a  Christian.     His   scholarly  habits 


256  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

did  not  make  him  the  less  devout.  He  did  not  drink  from 
the  shallows  of  learning,  a  draught,  as  Bacon  intimates, 
that  often  leads  to  atheism ;  he  drank  deeply  at  the  foun- 
tains of  learning,  a  draught  that  the  same  philosopher 
affirms  will  bring  a  man's  mind  about  to  religion.  He 
prayed  in  the  simplicity  of  a  child,  as  a  loving  and  trust- 
ful son,  confident  of  adoption  by  his  Heavenly  Father. 
His  readings  of  the  Bible  were  attended  with  a  fulness 
and  sweetness  of  faith,  with  a  heartiness  of  acceptance 
of  the  entire  volume  of  inspiration,  and  with  a  certain 
delicacy  of  utterance,  that  brought  to  the  listener  a 
delight  and  a  charm.  He  held  the  Bible  with  a  tender- 
ness that  bespoke  an  abiding  affection  for  its  holy  and 
blessed  truth.  He  loved  and  esteemed  the  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  and  often  spoke  kind  words  of  the  sermons 
they  preached.  In  an  exposition  of  the  words,  "For  me 
to  live  is  Christ"  he  said  to  us:  "Dr.  Lamson,  last 
Sunday,  analyzed  Paul's  thought  well.  'Paul  lived'  he 
said,  '  to  know  Christ,  to  enjoy  Christ,  to  make  Him 
known. 

We  knew  our  teacher  as  a  patriot.  Patriotism  in  his 
breast  was  not  held  to  be  a  low  and  unworthy  sentiment, 
but  as  a  becoming  fire  in  every  man's  bones.  Hence, 
in  the  trying  days  of  the  war,  there  were  few  civilians 
more  zealous  for  our  country's  defeat  of  rebellion,  than 
he.  That  act  of  his,  as  Dr.  Hovey  records,  in  joining 
the  company  that  was  thought  to  be  prudent  for  a  home 
guard,  that  accustoming  of  himself  to  military  terms  and 
movements  for  possible  service,  has  the  ring  in  it  of 
patriotic  metal,  worthy  of  the  days  of  Hancock  and 
Adams. 


BOSTON    MINISTERIAL    CONFERENCE.  257 

Our  teacher  addressed  us  as  a  class  in  the  month  suc- 
ceeding President  Lincoln's  emancipation  of  the  slaves 
of  rebels.  Speaking  of  the  emancipation,  he  said,  "  It 
was  a  tremendous  responsibility  for  the  President  to 
assume.  Yet  how  we  longed  for  the  word !  How  we 
agonized  !  How  we  rejoiced  when  the  word  came !  In  my 
travels  I  have  been  at  Marathon,  at  Leipsic,  at  Waterloo, 
have  thought  of  the  importance  of  these  battles,  but  in 
my  opinion  no  generation  ever  crossed  the  stage  of 
human  action  entrusted  with  such  interests  and  hopes  as 
the  present.  What  war  was  ever  fought  for  the  liberation 
of  four  millions  of  slaves  ?  The  importance  of  this  epoch 
to  every  true  patriot,  to  every  lover  of  universal  liberty, 
cannot  be  over-estimated." 

It  was  in  this  speech,  moreover,  that  we  heard  our 
teacher  speak  not  simply  as  a  patriot,  but  as  a  man. 
"Moses,"  said  he,  "was  the  father  of  history,  and  not 
Herodotus.  Moses  put  the  Ark  on  Ararat,  not  on  Leba- 
non. He  recognized  not  an  Abraham  only  for  the  Jew, 
but  a  Noah  and  an  Adam  for  the  race.  This  is  the  great 
fact  that  is  carried  from  the  Old  Testament  to  the  New. 
The  common  parentage  of  the  whole  family  of  man  is  a 
principle  of  Christianity.  Will  the  American  people 
accept  this  truth  ?  " 

But  we  knew  Dr.  Hackett  not  only  in  the  class-room, 

as  a  Christian,  as  a  patriot,  and  as  a  man,  but  we  all  have 

known    him    in    denominational    convictions    that    have 

brought  to  us  as  a  distinct  religious  people  distinguished 

honor.     He  was  a  man  of  conscientious  scholarship,  the 

result  of  which  appeared  in  his  becoming  a  Baptist,  with 

all  the  honors  of  Amherst  and  Andover  upon  him. 
18 


258  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

In  the  eulogiums  of  the  funeral  hour,  where  Christians 
of  denominational  relations  other  than  his  have  been 
invited  to  contribute  their  offerings  of  respect  to  one 
whose  preeminent  Christian  scholarship  is  the  common 
heritage  of  the  world,  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
special  mention  should  be  made  of  that  loyalty  to  con- 
science that  cost  the  Pedobaptist  sentiment  of  America 
one  of  the  finest  of  its  scholars,  and  that  gave  to  the 
Baptist  sentiment  a  believer  and  an  advocate,  on  the 
grounds  of  an  honest  examination  of  Scripture,  the  value 
of  whose  fidelity  to  a  true  and  exact  interpretation  of  the 
New  Testament,  the  Baptist  denomination  of  America, 
we  could  well  add  of  the  world,  is  yet  to  recognize.  The 
wealth  of  regard  that  was  ever  paid  to  Dr.  Hackett  by 
institutions  like  Andover  and  Amherst,  the  sympathy 
which  he  ever  cherished  for  the  schools  of  his  early  days, 
the  associations  of  scholarly  culture  which  were  ever  dear 
to  him  outside  of  his  own  denomination,  only  give  greater 
lustre  to  that  conscience  that  made  him  a  true  and  loyal 
Baptist  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

We  believe  it  to  be  due  to  him  and  to  ourselves  to 
make  mention  of  this  in  these  last  mementos  we  offer 
in  his  praise.  And  now  that  we  have  left  unsaid  much 
that  is  in  our  hearts  to  say,  since  words,  like  nature,  half 
reveal  and  half  conceal  the  soul  within,  we  offer,  with 
these  words  of  introduction,  the  following  resolutions : — 

Resolved,  That  while  the  unlooked  for  death  of  Rev. 
Horatio  Balch  Hackett,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  gives  ground  for 
universal  sadness,  there  is  also  great  occasion  for  gratitude 
to  Almighty  God  for  the  gift  of  such  an  eminent  Biblical 
interpreter,  preacher,  and  author,  to  the  Christian  learning 
of  the  world. 


BOSTON    MINISTERIAL    CONFERENCE.  259 

Resolved,  That  we  record,  as  far  as  possible,  our  appre- 
ciation of  his  distinguished  services  to  exact  and  thorough 
Christian  scholarship,  the  pursuit  of  which,  to  the  neglect 
even  of  many  of  the  pleasures  of  social  life,  engaged  his 
time  with  consuming  zeal. 

Resolved,  That  as  ministers  of  the  Baptist  denomina- 
tion we  owe  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Hackett  a  steadfast 
fidelity  to  those  principles  of  Biblical  interpretation  and 
practice  that  have  ever  characterized  us,  and  that  have 
found  their  firm  and  unwavering  advocacy  in  the  con- 
scientious scholarship  of  the  great  man  whose  removal 
from  among  us  gives  us  a  burden  of  sorrow  we  are  not 
often  called  to  bear. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  deepest  sympathies  to 
the  family  that  is  afflicted  most  deeply  bv  the  death  of 
this  husband  and  father,  and  that  a  copy  of  these  resolu- 
tions be  sent  to  them. 

Resolved,  That  copies  also  be  given  to  such  papers, 
secular  and  religious,  as  may  favor  us  with  their  publica- 
tion.    In  behalf  of  Committee, 

Alvah   Hovey. 

G.  S.  Abbott. 

Wm.  Howe. 

A.  J.  Gordon. 

Henry  M.  King. 


260  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

TRIBUTE  TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  LATE 

REV.  DR.  HACKETT. 


At  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  the  American  Bible 
Revision  Committee,  held  at  No.  42  Bible  House,  New 
York,  November  27,  1875,  the  following  minute  in 
reference  to  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hackett,  prepared 
by  a  committee  consisting  of  Professor  A.  C.  Kendrick, 
Ex-President  Theodore  D.  Woolsey,  and  Professor  Ezra 
Abbot,  was  ordered  to  be  placed  on  their  records,  and 
a  copy  to  be  given  to  the  press  for  publication  : 

With  profound  regret  this  committee  have  to  record 
the  death,  since  their  last  session,  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Horatio 
Balch  Hackett,  one  of  our  country's  most  eminent 
Biblical  scholars,  and  a  loved  and  honored  member 
of  this  Board  of  Revision.  Dr.  Hackett  was  born  in 
Salisbury,  Mass.,  December  27,  1808.  Having  been 
graduated  with  high  honor  from  Amherst  College,  and 
Andover  Theological  Seminary,  he  served  for  four  years, 
first  as  Adjunct  Professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  Lan- 
guages and  Literature,  and  afterwards  as  Professor  of 
Hebrew  Literature  and  Classical  Languages,  in  Brown 
University ;  he  filled  for  nearly  thirty  years  the  chair 
of  Hebrew  and  New  Testament  Literature  in  Newton 
Theological  Institution,  and  during  the  last  six  years 
that  of  New  Testament  Exegesis,  in  the  Rochester 
Theological  Seminary.     In  all  these  positions,  his  varied 


AMERICAN    BIBLE    REVISION    COMMITTEE.  26 1 

duties  were  discharged  with  eminent  ability.  As  a  Bib- 
lical scholar,  he  rose  rapidly  to  take  rank  with  the  ablest 
scholars  in  our  own  and  other  lands.  As  a  teacher,  he 
was  no  less  distinguished.  Uniting  exact  learning  and 
rigorous  method  with  a  devout  reverence  for  the  Sacred 
Word,  and  an  intense  enthusiasm  that  kindled  into  life 
even  the  driest  grammatical  details,  he  made  his  lecture- 
room,  to  all  who  frequented  it,  a  place  of  unwonted 
quickening  and  inspiration.  As  an  author,  his  various 
contributions  to  Sacred  Literature  have  been  exceed- 
ingly valuable.  His  Commentary  on  the  Acts  is  regarded 
abroad,  as  well  as  at  home,  as  of  standard  excellence  ; 
and  his  enlarged  edition  (undertaken  in  conjunction 
with  Dr.  Ezra  Abbot)  of  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible,  to  the  English  edition  of  which  he  was  also  a 
contributor,  has  greatly  enhanced  the  value  of  that 
excellent  work,  and  won  for  him  the  lasting  gratitude 
of  students  of  the  Scriptures. 

Dr.  Hackett  came  to  feel  deeply  the  need  of  improv- 
ing our  excellent  standard  version  of  the  Bible.  For 
several  years  he  lent  his  valuable  services  to  the  American 
Bible  Union,  and  when  the  American  Board  of  Revisers 
was  organized,  to  co-operate  with  the  English  Revision 
Committee,  he  entered  heartily  into  the  work  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  New  Testament  section  of  our  body.  Though 
his  increasingly  delicate  health  forbade  his  uniform  atten- 
dance at  the  meetings,  yet  his  presence  was  always 
warmly  greeted  by  his  colleagues  in  revision,  and  to 
his  opinions,  expressed  with  invariable  modesty,  was 
accorded  the  weight  due  to  ripe  learning  and  an  ad- 
mirably balanced  judgment. 


262  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

In  his   personal    character  he    was  no   less   estimable. 
Retiring  as   he  was  in  disposition,  and  living  in  scholarly 
seclusion,    few    knew    how    deep    and   warm    were    his 
affections,    and    how   tender    his    sympathies ;    how    re- 
fined were  his  tastes,  and  how  varied  his  culture  ;  how 
wide  was  his  outlook,  and  how  just  were  his  judgments 
of  public  affairs ;   how  fervid  was  his  patriotism,  and  how 
humble  and  unaffected  was  his    piety;    in    short,    what 
a  wealth  of    noble    and   Christian    qualities   lay    hidden 
beneath  that  quiet   exterior.     In  all  his  relations — as   a 
man,   a  teacher,   a   scholar,    and  a   Christian,  —  he  com- 
manded at  once  love  and  veneration,  and  his  later  pupils 
were  wont  to  trace  in  his  gentle  and  chastened  enthusiasm 
a  resemblance  to   the    "Beloved   Disciple,"  whose  writ- 
ings he  so  genially  expounded.      Nobly  has  he  accom- 
plished his  earthly  work,  and    in  the   higher  sphere  to 
which  death  has  translated  him,  he  is  enjoying,  we  doubt 
not,  the  fruits  of  a  life   of  faithful  consecration   to   the 
service  of  the  Church,  and  the  Church's   Lord.      With 
heartfelt  gratitude  to  Him  who  has  given  to  the  Church 
the  blessing  of  such  a  life,  we  place  on  record  this  imper- 
fect tribute  to  his  high  scholarly  and  personal  excellence. 
Resolved, — That  the  Secretary  of  this  Committee  be 
requested   to   transmit   to   the  family  of  Dr.   Hackett   a 
copy   of   the  above  Minute,  with  the  assurance  of   our 
tender  sympathy  with  them  in  their  sore   bereavement, 
and  our  prayer  that  the  Heavenly  Comforter  may  impart 
to  them  his  abundant  consolations. 

GEORGE  E.  DAY,  Secretary. 


FROM    PERSONAL    SOURCES. 


DR.    THOMAS    J.    CON  A  XT.  265 


COMMEMORATIVE    SKETCH 
BY  REV.  THOMAS  J.  CONANT,  D.  D. 

(PUBLISHED    NOVEMBER    II,   1875.) 

The  announcement  of  the  untimely  decease  of  Professor 
Horatio  B.  Hackett  will  be  received  with  profound  regret 
throughout  Christendom  ;  for  no  more  honored  name  is 
known  to  the  scholarship  of  the  age. 

Professor  Hackett  was  fitted,  by  an  unusual  combina- 
tion of  original  endowments,  for  his  chosen  field  of  labor. 
To  a  natural  gift  for  the  acquisition  of  language,  and  rare 
powers  of  discrimination  in  its  use,  was  added  the  still 
rarer  union  of  a  wide  and  comprehensive  grasp  of  a 
whole  subject  with  a  minutely  accurate  mastery  of  its 
details.  He  was  not  merely  a  philologist,  though  eminent 
as  such,  but  was  equally  at  home  in  the  subsidiary  depart- 
ments of  learning.  His  perfect  command  of  all  these 
gave  him  rank  with  the  foremost  scholars  of  our  time. 

Professor  Hackett  was  eminently  an  honest  scholar. 
Whatever  he  professed  to  know,  he  knew  of  his  own 
independent  research ;  and  he  never  expressed,  as  his 
own,  views  of  others  which  he  did  not  test  for  himself, 
and  credit  to  their  proper  sources.  In  an  acquaintance 
of  many  years,  and  of  the  closest  intimacy,  the  writer  has 
observed  in  him  no  trait  of  character  more  distinctly 
marked  than  his  hatred,  amounting  almost  to  detestation, 
of  groundless  pretension  and  assumption. 


2  66  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

Whatever  he  had  set  down  as  the  result  of  a  full  and 
exhaustive  investigation  he  regarded  as  final.  He  was 
not  one  of  those  who  are  always  ready  to  revise  their 
opinions.  But  while  a  subject  was  under  investigation, 
no  man  more  patiently  examined  every  element  on 
which  the  result  depended,  or  more  candidly  weighed 
any  possible  objection  to  the  tendency  of  his  own 
inquiries.  The  love  of  truth  was  the  predominating  ele- 
ment of  his  character,  and  its  influence  is  seen  on  every 
page  of  his  writings. 

Professor  Hackett  was  formed  for  active  life.  No  one 
came  within  the  sphere  of  his  personal  influence  without 
being  deeply  impressed  with  his  magnetic  power.  He 
had  not  the  natural  advantages  of  elocution  that  specially 
fit  one  for  public  speaking.  But  his  wealth  of  thought, 
with  his  earnest  and  impressive  manner,  would  have 
made  him  an  effective  preacher,  had  he  devoted  himself 
to  the  services  of  the  pulpit.  He  was  led  to  choose  the 
seclusion  of  the  study,  and  the  unexciting  duties  of  the 
lecture-room.  But  no  one  had  a  keener  relish  for  the 
pleasures  of  social  intercourse.  His  genial  temperament, 
his  delicate  wit,  his  perception  of  the  humorous,  and  never- 
failing  good  nature,  made  him  the  charm  of  the  social 
circle ;  while  his  ready  command  of  all  the  resources  of 
his  learning  made  his  conversation  rich  and  instructive, 
when  the  occasion  called  them  forth. 

He  was  a  devout  and  earnest  Christian.  His  early 
conviction  of  the  divine  inspiration  and  supreme  author- 
ity of  the  Holy  Scriptures  was  never  shaken,  and  through 
life  his  reliance  for  acceptance  with  God  was  based  solely 
on  the  evangelical  faith  therein  revealed.     His  Christian 


DR.    THOMAS    J.    CONANT.  267 

character  shone  brightest  in  its  mild  and  pure  radiance  at 
the  family  fireside  and  in  the  family  devotions.  His 
conversation,  cheerful  in  tone  and  free  from  conventional 
cant,  his  devout  and  humble  prayers,  simple  as  the  utter- 
ances of  childhood,  will  ever  be  remembered  in  those 
favored  homes  which  his  occasional  presence  brightened 
and  blessed.  Learning  and  piety  were  never  more 
beautifully  blended  in  a  human  character. 

He  is  called  away  in  the  maturity  and  fullness  of  his 
powers,  and  in  the  midst  of  active  and  manifold  labors. 
For  many  years  the  narratives  of  the  four  Evangelists 
have  been  his  special  and  favorite  study ;  and  he  has 
often  remarked  in  conversation,  that  every  fresh  review 
has  disclosed  new  internal  evidence  of  their  historical 
truth,  which  he  regarded  as  established  beyond  contro- 
versy. Whether  the  results  of  his  studies  in  this  field 
are  left  in  an  available  form  is  not  known. 

This  hasty  sketch  is  due  to  his  memory,  from  one  who 
had  long  held  with  him  the  most  intimate  and  endearing 
relations  of  friendship. 


268  DR.    BARNAS    SEARS. 


FROM  A  LETTER  OF  CONDOLENCE 

BY 

REV.  BARNAS  SEARS,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

— Is  it  so?  Is  that  dear  good  man  gone  from  us  for- 
ever? I  knew  him.  He  was  peculiarly  constituted,  and 
not  every  man  saw  the  inside  of  his  generous  heart  as  I 
did.  His  ambition  and  standard  of  excellence  were  too 
high  to  be  appreciated  by  everybody.  But  the  great  and 
the  good,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  knew  how 
to  prize  him :  and  his  name  has  a  place  in  history,  which 
it  will  never  lose,  while  biblical  learning  is  honored. 

But  I  write  not  to  eulogize  him,  which  is  wholly  un- 
necessary, nor  to  lament  on  his  account  the  change 
through  which  he  has  passed,  for  heaven  is  better  to  all 

than  earth,  but  to  offer  my  sincere  condolence 

B.  Sears. 

Nov.  7,   1875. 


DR.    S.    F.    SMITH.  269 


FROM  A  LETTER  OF  CONDOLENCE 

BY 

REV.   S.   F.   SMITH,  D.   D., 

DATED    BRUSSELS,    BELGIUM,    DECEMBER    5,    1 875. 

We  grieve  that  he  was  taken  from  us  in  the  full  glow 
of  his  powers, — when  by  his  accumulated  treasures  of 
learning,  his  wisdom,  his  experience,  his  enthusiasm,  his 
ability  to  fashion  and  mould  the  intellects  of  the  young 
men  committed  to  him,  he  seemed  better  fitted  than  ever 
to  do  great  things  for  God  and  the  human  race,  for  the 
church  and  the  world,  for  heathen  and  Christian  lands,  for 
the  Bible,  and  the  Sabbath  school,  and  the  ministry,  alike 
of  the  present  and  the  future.  While  I  dwell  upon  his 
excellences  I  grow  unreconciled  to  the  thought  of  their 
removal. 

But  how  cheering  is  the  thought  that  nothing  has 
become  extinguished.  The  lamp  still  burns  before  the 
throne.  And  He  whom  he  so  much  reverenced  and 
admired  now  has  that  great  light  of  our  age  with  Him- 
self in  heaven.  And  even  the  suddenness  of  his  departure 
we  may  endure  with  resignation  :  For  he  went  from  us, 
like  the  prophet,  in  the  full  glow  and  glory  of  his  powers, 
borne,  as  in  an  instant,  by  chariots  of  fire  and  horses  of 
fire  into  heaven,  and  leaving  the  young  men  of  his  charge 
looking  up  with  admiring  eyes  into  the  heaven  to  which 
he  ascended,  exclaiming,  "  My  father,  my  father,  the 
chariots  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof!" 


270  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

He  was  very  dear  to  me,  while  he  was  with  us.  He  is 
still  as  dear.  I  felt  that  I  enjoyed  his  confidence  and  love, 
and  I  felt  that  I  was  honored  by  them.  His  voice  was 
music.  His  look,  in  my  presence,  was  affection.  His 
low  soft  tones  of  voice  were  like  the  breathings  of  love. 
When  he  left  my  house,  in  May  last,  with  cheerful  words 
of  parting,  as  I  watched  his  departing  steps,  how  little  I 
suspected  that  I  should  see  him  on  earth  no  more  !  I 
shall  miss  him,  oh,  so  much,  on  earth  !  But  we  shall  meet 
him  again  in  the  mansions  where  he  is  gone, — we  shall 
find  him  engaged  in  the  service  he  so  deeply  loved,  in  the 
presence  of  Him  whom  he  adored.  Thousands  weep 
with  you  in  the  great  loss  in  which  the  whole  Christian 
church  is  also  a  mourner.  Ours  is  the  loss,  his  the  ever- 
lasting and  unspeakable  gain;  ours,  the  tears;  his,  the 
immortal  joy.  To  us,  a  fruitful  branch  is  withered  ;  to 
him,  a  palm  branch  waves,  and  a  crown  of  perennial  life 
blooms  in  the  Paradise  of  God. 


DRS.    H.    M.    DEXTER    AND    S.    G.    BROWN.  2*]l 


FROM   THE  CONGREGATIONALISM  NOV.   n,   1875. 
REV.  HENRY  M.  DEXTER,  D.  D., 

AND 

REV.  SAMUEL  G.  BROWN,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

It  was  fitting  that  a  man  so  learned,  so  catholic,  so 
pure,  should  be  honored  by  the  Institutions  writh  which 
he  was  at  various  times  connected,  and  by  the  churches, 
and  by  the  great  circle  of  Christian  scholarship  for  which 
Professor  Peabody  might  appropriately  speak. 

It  may  safely  be  said  that  no  Biblical  scholar,  of  any 
Christian  denomination,  ever  applied  to  all  subjects 
coming  under  review  a  nobler  or  sweeter  charity,  or  laid 
the  trophies  of  his  long  research  with  a  more  tender 
consecration  at  the  feet  of  his  Redeemer. 

By  consequence,  Dr.  Hackett  wras  equally  well  loved 
and  trusted  in  other  denominations  as  in  his  own.  To 
illustrate  this,  and  to  show  also  something  of  the  character 
of  the  man,  we  venture,  upon  their  author's  permission, 
to  append  a  few  lines  received  from  a  common  friend,  the 
President  of  Hamilton  College,  who  had  an  interview 
with  Dr.  Hackett  only  two  weeks  before  his  death.  Dr. 
Brown  says : — 

"  I  found  him  the  same  noble-minded  scholar  that  I  had 
long  known  him  to  be  ;  pure  in  heart,  charitable  in  judg- 
ment, recognizing  and  loving  the  true,  the  beautiful  and 
the  good  wherever  found ;  watchful,  independent,  candid 
and  sincere.     Though   not   strong,   he  seemed  to   be   in 


272  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

quite  his  usual  health,  and  equal,  in  all  respects,  to  the 
work  which  he  was  doing,  of  which  he  spoke  with  quiet 
satisfaction,  as  well  as  of  the  generous  way  in  which  he  was 
permitted  to  do  his  work  in  the  Theological  Seminary. 

"After  the  evening  service,  we  spent  an  hour  or  two 
together,  among  other  things,  in  reviving  the  memories 
of  our  Andover  life.  In  reference  to  this,  he  says,  in  a 
letter  dated  October  26th,  exactly  a  week  before  his 
sudden  departure :  '  As  we  grow  older,  how  much  more 
strongly  do  our  thoughts  and  sympathies  turn  backward 
instead  of  running  forward,  especially  with  regard  to  our 
early  associates  and  friendships.  To  see  you,  and  talk 
together  of  our  old  fellow-students  and  teachers,  and  of 
Andover  and  Dartmouth  and  Amherst,  unsealed  the  old 
fountains  of  by-gone  days,  and  made  me  almost  wish  to 
be  young  again,  and  to  feel  that  time,  in  this  respect, 
takes  more  from  us  than  it  brings  to  us.' 

"The  beautiful  example  of  such  a  Christian  scholar 
severe  with  himself  and  generous  to  all  others,  aiming 
always  at  the  highest  and  best  things,  and  accomplishing 
so  much,  should  not  be  lost  to  any  of  us,  and  certainly 
not  to  the  younger  students  of  our  day." 


DR.    WILLIAM    HAGUE.  273 


MEMORIES    OF    DR.    HACKETT, 

IN    AN    INTERVIEW    WITH    THOLUCK. 

BY  REV.  WILLIAM   HAGUE,  D.  D. 

{From  a  European  Letter,  published  March  9,    1876.) 

There  is  no  living-  man  in  Germany,  the  mention  of 
whose  name  awakens  sentiments  of  profound  respect 
and  affection  over  a  broader  area,  to-day,  than  that  of 
Tholuck. 

While  hearing  accounts  of  his  recent  illness,  it  seemed 
doubtful,  at  the  time  of  our  leaving  Leipzig,  December 
13th,  whether  it  would  be  practicable  for  him  to  receive 
visitors  at  his  usual  hour,  although  Mr.  Curtiss,  Minister 
of  the  American  Chapel  in  Leipzig,  said,  in  reply  to  that 
suggestion,  "  I  have  had  fresh  intelligence  of  his  con- 
dition, and  I  am  quite  sure  you  will  find  him  ready  to 
welcome  you."  Even  so  ;  at  the  set  time,  in  company 
with  Mr.  Poland,  of  Brown  University,  and  Mr.  S. 
Emmons  Brown,  an  American  student  of  theology  in 
Halle,  I  received  a  cordial  greeting  from  Mrs.  Tholuck, 
who  said  that  her  husband  would  meet  us  after  a  few 
minutes,  and  that  meanwhile  she  was  glad  to  have  the 
opportunity  of  making  inquiries  respecting  friends  in 
America.  A  quarter  of  an  hour  thus  passed  away,  when 
Professor  Tholuck  entered,  accompanied  by  a  servant, 
walking  slowly,  his  sight  rather  dim,   his  step  faltering, 

his  manner  courteous,  his  conversational  tones  winning, 
10 


2  74  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

his  words  indicating  at  once  a  memory  unimpaired.  He 
spoke  affectionately  of  several  of  his  student-friends  from 
America,  but  the  fresh  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Pro- 
fessor Hackett,  gave  chief  direction  to  his  thought  and 
manner  of  expression  just  then.  That  event  was  unan- 
ticipated ;  the  more  saddening  on  account  of  the  recent 
summer-visit  of  Professor  Hackett,  and  his  departure 
from  Halle,  "in  good  spirits,"  awakening  the  hope  of 
some  years  of  good  work  yet  before  him.  The  childlike, 
wonderfully  great  old  man  !  How  lovingly  he  spoke  ! 
The  remembrance  will  be  long  cherished ;  for  he  seemed 
to  mourn  the  death  of  Dr.  Hackett  as  a  personal  be- 
reavement, regarding  him,  evidently,  as  one  of  an  order 
of  scholars  who  had  taken  rank  in  the  line  of  a  recognized 
successorship,  carrying  forward  into  effective  achievement 
the  aims  of  his  own  life-work  in  the  spirit  of  persistent 
progress,  and  whose  departure,  therefore,  leaves  a  vacancy 
that  deepens  one's  feeling  of  the  mystery  of  life. 


DR.    AUGUSTUS    THOLUCK.  275 


GERMANY. 

FROM    A    LETTER    ADDRESSED    TO    MR.    S.    E.    BROWN,    BY    DR. 

A.    THOLUCK. 

Mr.  S.  E.  Brown,  after  graduating  with  highest  honors  from 
Harvard  College,  in  1S70,  and  from  Rochester  Theological  Seminary, 
in  1873,  proceeded  to  Germany,  to  remain  there  three  years,  having 
been  nominated  to  John  B.  Trevor,  Esq.,  by  Dr.  Hackett,  and  Dr. 
Robinson,  late  President  of  the  Seminary,  as  a  suitable  person  to 
improve  the  advantages  of  an  extended  residence  abroad  in  the 
interest  of  sacred  letters.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Peabody,  of  Cambridge, 
most  heartily  approved  this  selection.  Mr.  Trevor's  beneficence  is 
thus  connected,  not  only  with  the  chair  of  the  great  scholar  departed, 
but  with  the  unsurpassed  opportunities  enjoyed  by  this  worthy  and 
modest  gentleman. 

Dr.  Hackett  has  resided  here  as  a  student,  and  visited 
here,  and  we  were  associated  in  intimate  friendly  relations. 
He  was  preeminently  a  whole-souled  man,  of  sincere 
attachments.  Not  only  did  he  distinguish  himself  by  his 
theological  writings,  but  notably  by  his  academical 
instructions.  Here  also,  among  our  German  theologians, 
by  his  fervor  of  spirit,  he  won  to  himself  dear  friends. 
May  God  keep  his  memory  alive  in  many  hearts  in 
America,  and  among  the  young  raise  up  many  who  shall 
follow  him  ! 

A.  Tholuck. 
Halle,  March,  1876. 


276  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

ENGLAND. 

It  was  never  my  privilege  to  meet  Dr.  Hackett.  I  can 
however  offer  my  tribute  of  respectful  regard  to  one  with 
whom  I  was  allowed  to  work  on  the  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible;  and  to  whose  labours  I  feel  almost  daily  obligations. 
For  the  edition  of  the  Dictionary  of  the  Bible  which  was 
prepared  in  America  by  Dr.  Hackett  and  Professor  E. 
Abbot,  stands  always  by  the  side  of  my  desk,  and  gives 
constant  and  emphatic  witness  to  the  thoroughness  of 
American  scholarship.  R  R  Westcott> 

Cambridge,  Feb.  1,  1876. 

My  knowledge  of  Dr.  Hackett  extends  now  over  many 
years,  though  it  is  but  seldom  we  met.  In  his  occasional 
visits  to  Europe,  I  generally  had  the  pleasure  of  a  brief 
interview ;  and  this  last  summer  he  was  to  have  spent  a 
few  days  with  me  on  his  way  home.  His  gentleness  and 
ardour,  his  scholarship  and  devoutness  struck  all  who  met 
him,  and  showed  themselves  in  all  his  conversation.  His 
books  are  well  known  on  our  side ;  especially  his  Expo- 
sition of  the  Acts,  and  his  articles  in  the  Dictionary  of 
the  Bible.  The  additions  and  corrections  which  he  has 
inserted  in  the  American  reprint,  make  that  edition  of 
much  greater  value  than  ours.  Years  ago,  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  knowing  the  accuracy  of  his  knowledge, 
and  the  purity  of  his  taste  in  all  that  concerns  our  New 
Testament  Scriptures.  I  deem  his  removal  at  this  time 
to  be  a  great  loss  to  the  cause  of  Biblical  Revision.  His 
name  secured  the  confidence  of  scholars  alike  in  America 
and  in  Europe.  JogEpH  Angu& 

London,  February,  1876. 


REV.    D.    Z.    SAKELLARIOS.  277 

GREECE. 

PUBLISHED    MARCH    2,    1 876. 

A  word  of  respect  is  due  to  the  memory  of  that 
eminently  good  and  great  man,  Rev.  Horatio  B.  Hackett, 
D.  D.,  from  this  classic  land,  which  he  twice  visited  with 
so  much  pleasure  in  his  researches.  I  cannot  but  remem- 
ber him  with  deep  affection.  When  he  visited  Greece, 
in  1858,  it  was  my  privilege  to  accompany  him  upon  his 
travels  to  some  of  the  spots  mentioned  in  sacred  history, 
as  Thessalonica,  Neapolis  and  Philippi,  where  he  made  a 
diligent  study  of  those  memorable  places.  At  every 
illustration  of  Scripture  unfolded  to  his  mental  vision,  he 
always  had  some  significant  suggestion  of  spiritual  force 
and  profit.  Prayer  and  praise  fell  from  his  lips  as  the 
natural  outflowings  of  his  heart,  which  in  truth  seemed  a 
temple  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelt.  Subsequently, 
when  I  visited  the  United  States,  it  was  my  great  privilege 
to  become  his  pupil  in  the  Interpretation  of  the  New 
Testament,  the  events  of  which,  in  its  original  tongue,  we 
had  together  compared  at  the  places  before  mentioned. 
May  his  bereaved  family  be  comforted  by  the  holy 
remembrances  of  his  life,  and  sustained  in  their  deep 
affliction  by  God's  grace  and  spirit. 

D.  Z.  Sakellarios. 
Athens,  Jan.  29,  1876. 


278  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  H.  B.  HACKETT. 

BY 

REV.    EZEKIEL    RUSSELL,    D.    D. 

The  six  years  we  were  in  contact  with  each  other  in 
our  College  and  Seminary  life — we  were  never  classmates, 
though  Tutors  together — furnish  little  for  the  details  of  a 
narrative,  important  as  the  period  may  be  to  those  who 
are  passing  through  such  a  course. 

In  character,  H.  B.  Hackett  was  the  beauty  of  our 
College  Israel ;  modest,  sincere,  truthful,  just,  conceding 
to  all  their  dues ;  claiming  little  for  himself,  and  from  his 
soul  loathing  everything  in  the  form  of  affectation,  in- 
trigue, and  selfish  management  in  the  companions  of  his 
College  or  Seminary  life.  To  say  of  him,  therefore, 
that  I  admired,  esteemed  and  loved  him,  is  to  me  lan- 
guage ineffably  feeble  and  inadequate. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  he  acquitted  himself  in  the 
recitation-room,  and  of  his  public  performances  in  College, 
I  have  no  occasion  to  speak  to  his  classmates,  who 
heard,  and  with  others  felt  and  appreciated  the  matchless 
charm  of  those  performances.  I  need  not  speak  of  his 
oration  at  the  Junior  Exhibition  of  his  class,  or  of  his 
neat,  elegant  and  touching  farewell  address  to  his  class- 
mates and  the  College,  at  Commencement.  They  stand 
before  me  to-day  as  fresh  as  yesterday — as  things  of 
beauty,  taste  and  charm.  And  there  has  never  been  a  day 
of  my  life   when    I    have   not  felt   in   some   degree   the 


DR.    EZEKIEL    RUSSELL.  2/9 

attractions  of  that  high  literary  culture,  of  those  mental 
and  moral  qualities  so  symmetrically  and  beautifully  de- 
veloped in  the  person  of  our  friend. 

As  a  Tutor  in  College,  he  was  patient,  laborious, 
thorough.  His  time  was  devoted  to  the  work  of  perfect- 
ing himself  in  the  Latin  and  Greek  read  by  his  class,  and 
to  the  drill  to  which  they  were  subjected  during  the 
allotted  hours  of  recitation.  When  in  contact  with  his 
class,  and  testing  the  student's  knowledge  of  the  subject 
before  him,  he  was  always  easy,  searching,  graceful. 

He  was  kind  also,  and  knew  just  where  and  when  to 
ply  his  hand  to  relieve  difficulties,  to  shed  light,  and 
encourage  effort.  He  did  not  do  as  does  the  eagle  on  the 
summit  of  the  Alps,  when  she  knocks  her  unfledged  ones 
over  the  sides  of  the  nest  and  pitches  them  headlong 
from  the  crags  and  down  the  rocks,  and  then  leaves  them, 
with  their  undeveloped  strength,  to  cut  their  way  to  the 
sun.  He  was  kind,  tender,  to  a  charm.  No  student, 
therefore,  ever  left  his  recitation-room  without  feeling  that 
the  sympathy  of  the  instructor  was  with  him.  Every- 
thing in  laws,  manners,  customs,  geography,  history, 
mythology,  and  the  fine  arts  of  the  Grecian  and  Roman 
worlds,  adapted  to  illustrate  and  make  significant  the 
classic  read,  was  made  to  contribute  to  the  instruction 
and  entertainment  of  the  hour.  In  it  all  he  was  at  home, 
and  he  pursued  it  all  with  a  zest  and  an  enthusiasm 
peculiarly  his  own.  In  the  class-room,  his  classic  magnet- 
ism was  felt,  and  as  between  the  mountain  and  the 
cloud  charged  with  the  electric  fire,  there  was  a  mutual 
attracting  and  commingling  between  him  and  his  pupils. 
As  a  Tutor  in  College,  there  seemed  to  be  in  him  no  devi- 


280  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

ation  from  the  law  of  fitness  or  the  standard  of  taste.  He 
seemed  to  have  adopted  and  acted  on  the  maxim  of  the 
keen  and  cultured  Greek,  "  In  whatever  you  do,  sacrifice 
to  the  Graces?  One  part  of  his  exercises  was,  to  select 
a  passage  of  Latin  or  Greek,  and  express  the  thought  or 
sentiment  of  it  in  the  most  condensed  and  appropriate 
English  possible.  It  is  doubtful,  whether,  at  that  period, 
he  allowed  two  days  in  succession  to  pass  without  sub- 
jecting himself  to  this  discipline.  It  was  in  this  way  that 
he  acquired  that  easy,  fluent,  often  elegant,  and  always 
faultless  diction  with  which  he  expressed  himself  in  con- 
versation, in  extemporaneous  addresses  and  in  his  writings. 

Cicero,  who  had  read  the  letters  of  Cornelia,  and  was 
something  of  a  judge  in  such  matters,  affirms  that  the 
two  Gracchi,  her  sons,  whose  eloquence  stirred  all  the 
orders  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth,  were  educated  not 
in  the  bosom  of  the  mother,  but  by  the  pure  and  faultless 
language  that  ever  fell  from  her  lips,  and  the  elegant  style 
of  her  epistolary  compositions. 

Mr.  Hackett  understood  perfectly  the  value  of  mental 
application  to  such  learning,  and  knew  well  the  streams 
that  flowed  from  the  Pierian  Spring,  and  only  from  that 
source.  This  same  course  of  discipline,  he  also  assured 
me,  was  pursued  by  him  when  a  student  in  College. 

At  the  Faculty  meetings,  while  a  Tutor,  he  was  ever 
present,  listened  to  discussions,  answered  questions, 
and  when  requested,  submitted  opinions  and  gave  his 
reasons.  The  progress  of  every  student,  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact  in  the  recitation-room,  he  knew,  whether 
satisfactory  and  commendable,  or  defective  and  censurable; 
and  of  course,  when  called  upon  to  do  so,  or  he  deemed 


DR.    EZEKIEL    RUSSELL.  251 

it  his  duty,  he  reported  the  same  to  what,  in  College  in 
those  days,  were  designated  the  TA  TIIAPXONTA,  or  the 
powers  that  be. 

During  the  next  two  years  at  Andover,  being  myself 
in  the  class  that  immediately  followed  his,  I  was  a  witness 
of  all  his  public  performances  in  the  Seminary  at  that 
period,  both  the  required  and  the  voluntary.  In  the  dis- 
cussions of  the  Society  of  Inquiry,  in  the  debates  of  the 
Porter  Rhetorical,  which  were  exciting  and  earnest  in 
those  days,  and  in  the  weekly  exhibitions  before  the 
Seminary,  there  were  the  same  classic  elegance  and  taste 
that  fixed  attention  and  gave  the  charm  to  his  College 
exercises,  but  with  additional  power  and  resources.  There 
was  also  that  sweet  and  lovely  vein  of  Christian  feeling, 
mingled  with  his  simplicity,  sincerity  and  earnestness  of 
character,  that  touched  the  hearts,  and  won  the  regards  of 
all  who  listened  to  him.  He  was  never  ambitious,  vain, 
fond  of  preeminence,  and  of  the  honor  that  comes  from 
men. 

He  loved  learning  for  its  own  sake.  He  loved  to 
bathe  in  the  streams  that  flowed  still  and  deep,  or  war- 
bling, from  Greek  and  Latin  fountains.  He  loved  the 
language  and  drapery  of  the  word  of  God,  the  very 
costume  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  arrayed  eternal  truth 
for  its  part  on  the  theatre  of  the  world. 

Not  unrecognized  were  these  fine  qualities  of  manly 
and  Christian  character,  these  high  attainments  of  cul- 
ture and  learning,  as  was  shown  when,  in  the  Summer 
of  1833,  he  was  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty  students  then  resident  at  the  Seminary,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Porter  Rhetorical   Society,  which  office,  as 


282  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

successor  of  E.  P.  Humphrey,  he  held  till  his  graduation. 

As  to  the  transition  of  Professor  Hackett  to  the  de- 
nomination with  which  he  became  connected  for  life, 
the  mode  of  baptism,  he  often  assured  me  at  Andover 
and  elsewhere,  was  never  with  him  an  important  question. 

The  point  with  him,  in  reference  to  which  a  question 
did  arise  at  Andover,  when  the  subject  was  before  his 
class  for  examination,  was,  who  are  the  proper  subjects  of 
the  rite  of  Baptism,  and  he  felt  the  inconclusiveness  of 
the  Professor's  argument  in  support  of  his  own  position. 

The  Professor  affirmed  that  the  practice  of  the  Church 
during  the  second  and  third  centuries,  settled  the  question 
of  Infant  Baptism  in  the  affirmative.  Mr.  Hackett  felt 
that  almost  any  absurdity  might  be  proved  as  morally 
obligatory  in  that  way,  and  that  the  Christian  Fathers, 
in  the  language  of  Milton,  were  a  kind  of  "drag  net,"  in 
which  everything  foul,  hateful,  and  unclean  has  been  drawn 
to  the  shores  of  the  church  of  God.  Bingham's  Eccle- 
siastical Antiquities  were  read.  He  read  the  Fathers, 
and  read  particularly  the  treatise  of  Tertullian,  Dc  Corona 
Militis.  It  is  said,  some  suggestion  was  made  to  the  then 
Andover  Association  of  Ministers,  as  a  result  of  which, 
when  Mr.  Hackett  came  before  them  for  examination, 
and  for  a  licensure  to  preach,  he  was  licensed,  though 
conditionally,  on  the  ground  of  his  being  unsettled 
or  in  doubt,  in  reference  to  the  argument  alluded  to. 
He  was  disappointed.  It  made  him  sad.  It  shocked 
those  keen  sensibilities  with  which  he  was  so  liberally 
endowed. 

After  his  graduation,  therefore,  he  engaged  in  teaching 
at  Baltimore,  Md.,  for  a  year.      At  the  end  of  it,  he  went 


DR.    EZEKIEL    RUSSELL.  283 

to  Brown  University  as  Professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages,  for  which  service  he  was  preeminently  quali- 
fied, and  from  there  to  the  Newton  Theological  Seminary, 
where  the  sphere  for  exertion  was  wide,  and  the  field  of 
labor  itself,  congenial. 

But  he  felt  his  separation  from  his  College  and  Semi- 
nary friends,  and  for  them  his  esteem  and  affection  never 
did  and  could  never  abate.  With  his  views  and  feelings, 
he  said,  he  could  never  become  a  partisan.  On  the  want, 
in  certain  quarters,  of  what  he  deemed  a  true  Christian 
refinement  and  liberality  of  feeling,  he  often  animad- 
verted. 

We  have  visited  each  other  at  our  respective  residences 
since  those  days  of  College  and  Seminary  life,  met  one 
another  often,  at  Boston,  Saratoga,  and  elsewhere,  and 
interchanged  views  as  in  former  years. 

He  often  referred  to  what  he  deemed  a  partial  and 
defective  exhibition  of  the  vital  and  fundamental  truths 
of  the  word  of  God  in  the  pulpits  of  the  country,  and  a 
growing  disposition  to  substitute  rhetorical  or  some  per- 
sonal display  for  the  pure  word  of  life  itself.  This  ten- 
dency to  "  heal  the  hurt  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
people  slightly, "  he  deplored,  and  thought  that  there  was 
nothing  adapted  to  arrest  the  tendency  and  remedy  the 
evil,  but  a  profounder  study  of  the  living  oracles  with 
all  their  claims  and  startling  disclosures,  on  the  part  of 
those  who  enter  upon  the  work  of  the  Christian  ministry. 
He  thought  the  time  would  soon  come  when  a  change 
in  this  regard  would  be  demanded,  and  the  faithful  in 
the  work  would  be  appreciated  and  sustained,  and  not 
resisted  and  discarded. 


284  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

Some  have  supposed  that  he  was  so  completely  ab- 
sorbed in  the  pursuits  of  the  student's  life,  that  he  had 
little  or  no  interest  in  the  wide  world  about  him.  This 
was  never  so.  He  was  especially  interested  in  his  coun- 
try's history,  and  traced,  step  by  step  with  care,  her  progress 
and  rejoiced  in  every  token  of  her  welfare.  Her  commerce, 
her  trade,  her  manufactures,  and  her  financial  system,  he 
carefully  studied,  and  when  a  relentless  rebellion  lifted 
its  arm  and  threatened  the  extinction  of  the  Union,  and 
covered  all  our  borders  with  disaster  and  sorrow,  we 
know  that  he  was  restless,  and  that  he  spared  neither  his 
solicitude  nor  his  pen  in  her  behalf. 

Few,  who  have  been  from  our  shores  and  explored  the 
lands  of  the  Bible,  and  of  classic  Greece  and  Rome, 
have  had  their  eyes  more  open  to  all  the  scenes  of  un- 
dying interest,  felt  more  deeply  their  stirring  power,  or 
used  them  more  habitually  for  strengthening  the  founda- 
tions of  a  Christian  faith,  both  in  himself  and  the  pupils 
that  have  been  trained  by  his  hand. 

The  Nile,  the  Red  Sea,  Sinai,  sweet  Hebron,  Galilee, 
the  Jordan,  Bethlehem,  and  Olivet,  from  which  he  looked 
down  on  the  Garden  at  its  foot,  and  upon  the  City  of  the 
Great  King,  made  real  to  him  the  recorded  life  of  the 
Man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief. 

He  remarked,  that  as  he  approached  Jerusalem,  on 
going  from  Bethlehem,  he  was  informed  that  the  whole 
city  and  its  surroundings  could  be  viewed  from  a  certain 
point,  as  in  a  kind  of  panorama ;  he  hesitated  for  some 
time  to  look  upon  the  scene,  lest  the  poetic  and  pleasing 
idea  of  it,  that  he  had  long  held  in  his  mind,  should 
forever  vanish,  and  the  reality  itself  be  to  him  ever  after 


DR.    EZEKIEL    RUSSELL.  285 

repulsive.  But  he  suffered  no  such  revulsion.  All  his 
visions  of  it,  though  in  some  respects  modified,  were  still 
essentially  the  same.  It  was  still  the  city  of  David  and 
Solomon,  and  of  Him  who  there  taught,  wrought  miracles, 
suffered,  died  and  redeemed  the  world. 

The  Mediterranean,  Crete,  Rhodes,  Cyprus,  the  beau- 
tiful ^Egean  and  its  islands,  Troas,  Ephesus,  Philippi, 
Athens  and  Corinth,  were  viewed  with  an  eye  that  marked 
their  impressions,  and  left  them  ail-along  that  scholarly 
and  elegant  Commentary  on  the  Acts. 

But,  there  are  ways  that  are  not  ours — paths  of  footsteps 
that  to  us  are  unknown.  In  the  sudden  decease  of  our 
friend,  the  Christian  scholarship  of  our  country  has 
suffered  an  irreparable  loss.  Our  youth  are  bereft,  in  their 
pursuit  of  learning,  of  one  of  the  noblest  examples  of  an 
unselfish  love  for  it,  of  untiring  industry,  perseverance 
and  success  in  its  attainment.  From  Amherst  College 
has  been  plucked  its  most  brilliant  classic  flower,  and  from 
Andover  Seminary  has  been  taken  an  ornament,  that  she 
could  ill  afford  to  lose.  Hackett  and  Edwards  were 
beloved  in  those  seats  of  learning.  Their  presence  was 
an  inspiration  to  many  a  dweller  there,  by  whom,  to-day 
and  evermore,  they  will  be  viewed  as  among  the  Christian 
Agricolas  of  our  land. 


286  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  FRIENDSHIP  AND  TRAVEL. 


BY 


REV.  DANIEL  L.  FURBER,  D.  D. 

Having  had  the  privilege  of  accompanying  the  subject 
of  this  memorial  on  his  fifth  and  last  foreign  tour,  a 
journey  which  was  completed  only  .two  months  before  his 
death,  and  having  enjoyed  his  acquaintance  as  a  neighbor 
and  friend  for  many  years,  the  opportunity  has  been 
granted  me  of  saying  a  few  words  about  one  whose  friend- 
ship I  have  very  greatly  valued,  and  of  indulging  in  some 
recollections  of  the  three  and  a  half  months  which  I  so 
recently  spent  with  him  in  travel. 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  find  a  more  delightful  travelling 
companion  than  Dr.  Hackett  was.  His  conversation  was 
instructive  on  a  greater  variety  of  subjects  than  one  would 
expect  from  his  habitual  absorption  in  the  studies  which 
he  made  the  business  of  his  life.  Beside  those  rich  and 
rare  attainments  in  his  own  department,  which  made  his 
name  respected  by  scholars  in  Great  Britain  and  Germany, 
he  was  quite  at  home  in  English  history,  and  had  made 
himself  familiar  with  a  very  wide  range  of  standard  Eng- 
lish literature.  As  to  his  general  scholarship,  that  was 
only  a  part  of  his  professional  equipment.  Choice  armor 
it  was,  and  he  kept  it  brightly  burnished  to  the  last. 
When  he  was  Professor  in  Brown  University,  he  used  to 
teach  Horace  to  his  classes  without  a  book  in  the  recita- 


DR.    D.    L.    FURBER.  287 

tion  room.  That  author  was  one  of  his  favorites,  and  he 
could,  to  the  last  year  of  his  life,  quote  from  memory 
passages  from  the  Odes  which  he  had  learned  nearly  forty 
years  before.  That  which  he  found  so  captivating  in  the 
Odes  of  Horace  was  partly  the  power  of  poetry,  to  which 
he  had  always  a  quick  sensibility.  This  is  indicated  by 
the  frequent  poetical  quotations  which  we  find  in  his 
writings. 

The  studies  of  the  scholar  and  the  man  of  letters, 
engrossing  as  they  were  to  him,  did  not  make  him  in- 
different to  passing  events.  He  was  an  attentive  reader 
of  the  news  of  the  day.  He  watched  very  closely  the 
political  movements  of  the  times,  and  felt  a  deep  and 
intelligent  interest  in  them,  whether  they  related  to  his 
own  country  or  to  the  countries  which  he  had  often 
visited  in  his  travels. 

No  one  who  knew  Dr.  Hackett  needs  to  be  told  that 
he  was  an  enthusiastic  man.  The  studies  to  which  he 
applied  himself  took  possession  of  him.  His  mind 
kindled  upon  them  to  a  glowing  ardor,  both  by  day  and 
in  the  dreams  of  night.  Awaking  one  morning  on  an 
Ocean  Steamer,  he  said :  "  I  have  just  been  going  through 
the  forms  of  a  Hebrew  verb  in  my  sleep,  and  I  believe  I 
made  all  the  parts  correctly."  He  was  so  familiar  with 
the  Greek  Testament  that  he  could  quote  from  it  more 
readily  than  from  the  vernacular ;  and  whenever  he 
listened  to  the  reading  of  a  chapter  from  the  common 
version,  in  public  worship  or  elsewhere,  his  thoughts  were 
busy  turning  the  English  into  Greek. 

This  enthusiasm  was  accompanied  by  a  modesty  which 
imparted  a    perpetual  charm    to    his    conversation,    and 


288  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

allowed  those  with  whom  he  conversed  to  imagine  that 
he  regarded  them  his  equals  in  knowledge,  and  their 
judgment  entitled  to  as  much  consideration  as  his  own. 
It  is  impossible  that  he  should  not  have  known  what 
his  powers  and  attainments  were,  as  compared  with  those 
of  the  men  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  but  he  never 
assumed  upon  them,  he  never  put  them  forward.  His 
manner  toward  young  men  was  as  wide  as  the  poles 
of  everything  magisterial,  dogmatical,  or  arrogant.  No 
matter  in  whose  company  he  might  be,  the  attitude  of 
his  mind  was  always  that  of  a  humble,  earnest  enquirer 
after  truth  ;  and  quite  as  much  so  in  the  presence  of 
those  below  him,  as  of  those  who  were  more  nearly  his 
equals.  He  appeared  to  think  far  less  of  his  relation 
to  other  men  than  of  the  relation  of  all  alike  to  the  truth 
which  we  all  need  to  know. 

Unassuming  as  he  was,  he  was  not  destitute  of  a  be- 
coming self-respect.  Entering  a  bookstore  at  Leyden, 
last  summer,  we  enquired  the  way  to  Professor  Kuenen's. 
The  bookseller  looked  up  with  surprise,  and  said,  "  Why 
he  is  a  Professor  in  the  University ! "  The  air  and  tone 
with  which  this  was  spoken,  carried  with  it  the  suggestion 
that  it  was  very  presumptuous  in  us  to  think  of  calling 
upon  so  eminent  a  man.  Dr.  Hackett  took  the  hint  in 
a  moment,  and  straightening  himself  and  raising  his 
voice,  he  said,  "  Very  well,  I  am  not  afraid  of  a  Professor, 
I  am  a  Professor  myself."  It  was  very  amusing  to  see 
so  instantaneous  a  change  in  the  whole  aspect  of  a 
modest  man,  and  to  see  the  dignity  of  self-assertion,  in 
contrast,  for  a  moment,  with  the  habitual  lowliness  of 
his  demeanor.     Sycophancy  was  as  offensive  to  him  as 


DR.    I).    L.    FURBER.  289 

arrogance  ;  and  the  sharpness  of  his  reply  in  this  instance, 
was  intended  not  more  for  the  protection  of  his  own 
dignity  than  it  was  to  rebuke  the  servile  deference  with 
which  the  Leyden  bookseller  regarded  the  great  men 
of  the  University. 

Few  men  could  have  been  less  influenced  than  Dr. 
Hackett  was  by  motives  of  ambition.  He  neither  coveted 
wordly  honor  and  distinction,  nor  was  he  emulous  of  the 
glory  of  surpassing  others.  It  gave  him  no  pleasure 
to  be  called  of  men  Rabbi.  To  all  such  considerations 
he  was  singularly  indifferent.  To  imagine  him  stimulated 
by  them,  or  by  any  worldly  or  selfish  motives,  to  the 
intense  and  prolonged  strain  of  application  which  his 
whole  life  exhibited,  would  be  doing  violence  to  all  just 
ideas  of  the  man.  He  loved  knowledge  for  its  own  sake. 
His  mind  had  a  native  affinity  for  truth,  a  propensity 
toward  investigation.  Mental  activity  and  eagerness  for 
acquisition  were  bred  in  the  bone,  and  were  traits  of  his 
earliest  days.  He  used  to  say,  that  he  read  in  his  child- 
hood all  the  books  he  could  get.  He  would  read  until 
dark,  and  then  ask  for  a  light,  that  he  might  go  on  with 
his  occupation. 

Another  remark  which  he  recently  made  was,  that 
study  was  "a  necessity"  to  him.  His  faculties  tended 
not  only  naturally  but  imperatively  to  action.  They  were 
a  clock  always  wound  up  and  having  the  strong  tension 
of  the  weights  upon  them  so  that  move  they  must. 
Most  minds,  however  generously  endowed,  need  the 
help  of  certain  stimulating  influences  from  without,  and 
they  fail  to  do  their  task  if  these  are  wanting.  The 
indolence   which   is  common   in  human  nature,  needs  a 


20 


29O  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

spur.  Dr.  Johnson,  being  asked  how  he  had  obtained 
so  accurate  a  knowledge  of  Latin,  replied,  "  My  master 
whipt  me  very  well.  Without  that,  sir,  I  should  have 
done  nothing. "     Often 

"  Fame  is  the  spur  that  the  clear  spirit  doth  raise 
(That  last  infirmity  of  noble  mind) 
To  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious  days." 

But  it  would  not  be  easy  to  think  of  Dr.  Hackett  as 
actuated  by  the  love  of  fame  or  of  human  applause  in 
any  form.  He  once  remarked  that  he  never  felt  the  need 
of  any  external  incitements  to  study,  nor  could  he  look 
back  upon  any  period  of  life  and  say,  I  could  have  ac- 
complished more  if  I  had  been  placed  under  a  greater 
pressure  of  motive.  The  ardor  of  his  nature  gave  him 
a  sufficient  impulse,  and  his  inborn  craving  and  passion 
for  knowledge  was  a  sufficient  inducement  to  obtain  it. 
With  such  a  mental  constitution  as  this,  it  is  easy  to  see 
how  he  accomplished  what  he  did. 

As  a  man,  Dr.  Hackett  had  a  heart  full  of  kindness. 
He  had  a  truly  and  deeply  affectionate  nature.  His  love 
to  his  friends  was  like  that  of  David  and  Jonathan.  He 
loved  little  children  and  always  took  notice  of  them.  He 
had  a  fountain  of  ready  sympathy  for  the  poor,  the  weak, 
the  wronged,  and  those  that  have  no  helper.  If  he  could 
speak  a  kind  word  to  them,  or  do  for  them  a  kind  act,  it 
gave  him  greater  satisfaction  than  to  enjoy  an  interview 
with  the  titled  and  honored.  The  story  of  George  Her- 
bert and  the  poor  countryman  with  his  cart  upset,  would 
fit  him  very  well. 

While  in  England  last  summer,  he  called  upon  Dean 


DR.    D.    L.    FURBER.  29 1 

Howson,  who  spoke  of  the  Commentary  on  Acts  as  a 
standard,  and  of  the  American  Edition  of  the  Dictionary 
of  the  Bible  as  the  only  one  he  had.  He  had  given  his 
English  edition  away.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Dean 
was  much  interested  in  Dr.  Hackett's  account  of  his 
journey  to  Philippi  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  for  i860. 
He  wrote  to  Dr.  Hackett  on  the  subject  at  the  time  the 
article  appeared,  as  did  also  some  other  English  scholars. 

Another  place  visited  was  Litchfield,  on  account  of  the 
connection  of  its  Cathedral  with  the  name  of  John 
Hacket,  who  was  Bishop  of  Litchfield  a  little  more  than 
two  hundred  years  ago.  It  is  quite  easy  to  believe  that 
there  was  a  lineal  connection  between  Dr.  Hackett  and 
the  Bishop,  of  whom  it  is  said  that,  when  he  was  a  boy  in 
Westminster  school,  "  The  incomparable  Bishop  Andrews 
took  notice  of  this  young  scholar  for  his  great  diligence, 
modesty,  and  strong  inclinations  to  learning  and  virtue, 
which  he  afterwards  constantly  cherished  at  school  and 
university,  to  his  death."  Litchfield  was  also  the  birth- 
place of  Samuel  Johnson.  In  a  letter  written  by  Dr. 
Hackett  after  his  return  to  Rochester  last  September,  he 
said:  "You  may  recollect  how  interested  I  was  to  notice 
that  the  last  book  ever  taken  out  by  Dr.  Johnson  from 
the  library  of  the  Litchfield  Cathedral  was  Fullers  Wor- 
l/ilcs,  as  recorded  in  the  borrowing  book,  under  October 
5th,  1784.  That  is  not  a  book  to  interest  a  man  very 
deeply  unless  he  has  a  true-hearted  sympathy  with  the 
conflicts  and  triumphs  of  Christian  truth,  in  the  hearts 
and  lives  of  its  confessors." 

In  the  same  letter  he  says:  "Having  lost  the  opportunity 
to  visit  Olney,  I  have  been  taking  my  revenge  by  reading 


292  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

anew  Cowper's  Table  Talk,  which  the  poet  wrote  at 
Olney,  and  also  his  Truth.  Had  we  gone  there  we  should 
have  seen  the  same  sight  still  perpetuated,  of: — 

— '  Yon  Cottager,  who  weaves  at  her  own  door, 
Pillow  and  bobbins,  all  her  little  store ; 
Content  though  mean,  and  cheerful  if  not  gay, 
Shuffling  her  threads  about  the  live-long  day, 

Just  earns  a  scanty  pittance, 

Receives  no  praise  ; 

Just  knows,  and  knows  no  more,  her  Bible  true — 
And  in  that  charter  reads  with  sparkling  eyes 
Her  title  to  a  treasure  in  the  skies.'  " 

These  lines  are  upon  the  11th  page  of  Cowper's  Truth. 
The  pains  which  Dr.  Hackett  took  to  copy  them  illus- 
trates his  sympathy  with  people  of  the  humbler  class,  his 
poetical  tastes,  and  his  simple  Christian  faith. 

He  so  much  enjoyed  a  visit  to  Bradford,  that  he  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  write  an  article,  after  reaching  home, 
about  John  Bunyan.  He  went  to  the  Chapel  in  which 
"  Bunyan  Meeting"  is  now  held,  called  on  the  minister, 
sat  in  the  chair  in  which  Bunyan  sat  in  writing  his 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  walked  over  to  Elstow,  called  at 
"Bunyan  Cottage,"  visited  the  Parish  Church  and  Tower 
where  is  the  chime  of  bells  which  Bunyan  used  to  ring, 
and  saw  with  great  pleasure  a  small  door  within  the  door 
of  the  Church,  called  "The  Wicket."  This  he  had  no  doubt 
was  what  suggested  the  "  Wicket  Gate  "  in  the  Allegory. 

There  were  some  things  in  the  character  of  Bunyan  to 
which  Dr.  Hackett  could  most  heartily  respond,  and 
particularly  his  strong  domestic  affections,  and  his  sturdy 
loyalty  to  conscience.     Bunyan  loved  his  family.     He  had 


DR.    D.    L.    FURBER.  293 

a  special  tenderness  for  the  little  blind  daughter.  The 
officer  of  the  jail  said  to  him:  "If  you  will  desist  from 
preaching,  you  can  be  released."  "No,"  said  he,  "if  you 
let  me  out  to-day,  I  will  preach  again  to-morrow."  Then 
speaking  of  his  dependent  family,  he  said:  "They  must 
suffer  cold  and  hunger,  and  beg  from  door  to  door,  and  I 
can  do  nothing  for  them.  And  yet  /  must,  I  must!' 
Such  decision  as  this,  for  conscience'  sake,  Dr.  Hackett 
knew  how  to  admire.  He  had  practised  the  like  himself. 
And  if  he  had  written  such  an  article  as  he  had  in  mind, 
he  would  have  given  us  a  glowing  appreciation  of  a  noble 
character. 

Of  Bishop  Hacket  it  is  said,  that  "  in  confession  of  his 
sins  he  was  ever  most  humble,  in  godly  sorrow  most 
contrite,  in  prayer  most  assiduous,  in  faith  most  steadfast." 
All  this  might,  with  truth,  be  said  of  the  Bishop's  name- 
sake. He  was  a  humble,  prayerful,  penitent  believer.  His 
faith  was  cordial  and  unquestioning.  Trustfully  he  com- 
mitted his  whole  way  unto  the  Lord.  That  impediment 
to  faith  which  our  Saviour  specifies  when  he  says,  "  How 
can  ye  believe,  which  receive  honor  one  of  another?"  was 
no  impediment  to  his  faith.  No  ambition  for  a  name 
among  men  ever  stood  in  the  way  of  the  exercise  of  a 
child-like  confidence  in  God,  or  repressed  the  devout 
aspirations  of  his  soul  in  prayer.  In  our  journeyings 
abroad,  it  was  his  desire  that  we  might  have  prayer 
together  as  often  as  we  conveniently  could.  And  when- 
ever a  convenient  time  occurred,  whether  morning  or 
evening,  he  was  usually  the  first  to  take  up  his  Testament 
and  signify  his  readiness  for  a  season  of  devotion.  And 
repeatedly,  on  entering  a  room  which  we  used  in  common, 


294  HORATIO  BALCH  HACKETT. 

did  I  find  him  in  a  kneeling  attitude,  engaged  in  secret 
prayer.  Sometimes  he  was  careful  to  close  the  door. 
He  seemed  to  think  that  prayer  was  so  indispensable  a 
part,  and  so  large  a  part  of  the  life  of  a  believer,  that, 
among  friends,  one  need  not  always  insist  upon  absolute 
secrecy. 

He  is  now,  we  believe,  in  the  presence  of  the  Saviour, 
with  '  whom  he  so  constantly  held  communion  on  earth  ; 
in  the  presence  of  Paul,  of  whom  he  once  said  that  he 
should  be  afraid  ;  in  the  presence  of  Christian  scholars  of 
all  ages,  in  whose  blessed  and  congenial  society  he  will 
now  forget  the  things  which  are  behind — the  poor  and 
scanty  attainments  of  this  world — and  reach  forth  with 
an  insatiable  desire  to  explore  the  vast  fields  of  knowledge 
which  open  around  him.  As,  in  heaven,  he  worships  the 
Being  before  whom  he  bowed  so  low  on  earth,  will  not 
his  Lord  see  in  him  a  disciple,  who,  when  he  was  con- 
verted, became  as  a  little  child  ?  And  will  not  the  promise 
now  and  forever  be  made  good  to  him :  "  He  that 
humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted?" 


APPENDIX.  295 


APPENDIX. 

I— LETTER  BY  PROF.   HACKETT,  WRITTEN  IN   1S35. 

The  following  letter,  it  will  be  seen,  substantiates,  on  the  direct 
authority  of  its  writer,  statements  that  have  been  made  respecting 
an  interesting  juncture  in  his  history.  It  is  contributed  to  this 
volume  by  Mrs.  E.  R.  H.  Peck,  from  the  correspondence  of  her 
husband,  the  late  Rev.  Solomon  Peck,  D.  D.,  as  a  delightful  me- 
morial of  Christian  relations  and  sentiments,  and  one  for  which 
a  wide  publicity  might  be  desired. 

Baltimore,  June  25th,   1835. 

My  dear  Friend  and  Brother: — 

Your  very  unexpected  and  cordial  letter  has  been 
received,  and  read  with  great  satisfaction.  It  affords 
me  much  pleasure  to  find,  that  having  been  dismissed 
with  assurances  of  unabated  regard  by  my  former  friends, 
I  am  to  be  received  with  confidence  and  affection  by 
those,  with  whom  I  am  hereafter  to  act.  It  may  gratify 
you  to  know,  that  Dr.  Woods,  in  communicating  the 
vote  of  my  recommendation  to  the  Baptist  Church  here, 
accompanied  it  with  expressions  of  the  most  kind  regard 
for  me  personally,  as  well  as  of  good  will  towards  the 
Baptists  in  general,  and  also  with  a  declaration  of  his 
entire  approval  of  the  course  which  I  have  taken.  He 
went  so  far  as  to  say,  that  "  somehow  he  had  a  feeling 
of  gratification,  that  I  was  to  belong  to  the  Baptist 
denomination."     No  one,  who  has  not  been  situated  as 


296  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

I  have  been,  can  tell  how  affecting  it  was  to  my  heart 
to  receive  a  communication  so  full  of  Christian  kindness 
and  love.  And  your  communication  has  affected  me 
in  a  similar  manner.  It  found  me,  as  it  were,  in  the 
condition  of  a  stranger,  who  has  left  his  acquaintance 
and  come  suddenly  among  people  of  a  new  speech  and 
aspect.  I  rejoice  in  the  providence,  which  made  you  so 
early  acquainted  with  my  decision,  and  which  has  resulted 
in  my  receiving  from  you  so  cordial  a  welcome  to  your 
communion. 

In  regard  to  my  future  labors,  it  is  impossible  for 
me  to  say  anything  definitely.  The  terms  of  your  letter 
were  so  general  as  to  preclude  this.  So  far  as  I  could 
form  an  opinion  of  your  meaning  (which  you  no  doubt 
disclosed  as  far  as  was  proper),  you  wish  to  know  whether 
it  would  be  agreeable  to  my  feelings  to  be  directly  con- 
cerned in  the  work  of  Foreign  Missions,  if  not  by  going 
abroad,  by  promoting  it  at  home  in  the  capacity  perhaps 
of  a  permanent  agent,  or  assistant  in  some  way  to  the 
Baptist  Board.  The  cause  of  missions  I  feel  to  be  the 
cause  of  Christ ;  and  its  advancement  the  work,  which 
his  followers  have  to  do  as  their  great  business.  Although 
I  have  not  considered  myself  as  called  to  the  service 
of  a  foreign  missionary,  yet  I  feel,  and  have  long  felt, 
that  in  whatever  situation  I  might  be  placed,  all  my 
efforts  should  be  directed  to  the  conversion  of  the  whole 
world  to  Christ.  The  idea,  therefore,  of  being  brought 
into  some  more  immediate  connexion  with  the  missionary 
work  than  the  ministry  would  bring  me,  cannot  of  course, 
in  itself  considered,  be  otherwise  than  highly  pleasing. 
At  the  same  time,  it  is  but  truth  to  say,  that  preaching 


APPENDIX.  297 

the  Gospel  as  a  settled  pastor  has  long  seemed  to  me 
the  sphere,  which  above  all  others  I  should  choose. 
Nothing  hut  an  apprehension  of  wanting  the  requisite 
physical  resources  could  make  me  think  for  a  moment 
of  any  other  department.  And  that  I  have  not  those 
resources,  I  am  not  sure  that  I  ought  to  be  persuaded 
by  anything  short  of  an  actual  trial.  Such  is  the  present 
posture  of  my  mind.  It  would  be  fulfilling  my  strongest 
desires  to  have  charge  of  a  parish  somewhere  in  New 
England,  preaching  in  simplicity  and  with  zeal,  the  blessed 
gospel  of  our  Lord. 

In  the  course  of  next  month  (July),  I  shall,  if  my  life 
be  spared,  be  in  Boston,  and  may  then  expect  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  you. 

I  am  greatly  obliged  to  Dr.  Bolles  for  his  interest  in 
me,  and  beg  his  acceptance  of  my  high  consideration 
and  esteem. 

With  much  affection, 

Your  friend  and  brother, 

H.  B.  Hackett. 
Rev.  S.  Peck. 


298  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 


II.— LIST  OF  PUBLISHED  WORKS  AND  ARTICLES. 

Plutarch  on  the  Delay  of  the  Deity  in  the  Punishment  of 
the  Wicked.  With  Notes,  by  H.  B.  Hackett,  Professor  of  Biblical 
Literature  in  Newton  Theological  Institution.      Andover.      1844. 

Grammar  of  the  Chaldee  Language,  as  contained  in  the 
Bible  and  the  Targums.  By  Dr.  George  B.  Winer,  Professor  of 
Theology,  etc.,  in  the  University  of  Leipsic.  Translated  from  the 
German  by  H.  B.  Hackett,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  in  Newton 
Theological  Institution.     Andover.     New  York.     1845. 

Exercises  in  Hebrew  Grammar,  and  Selections  from  the  Greek 
Scriptures  to  be  Translated  into  Hebrew,  with  Notes,  Hebrew 
Phrases,  and  References  to  Approved  Works  in  Greek  and  Hebrew 
Philology.  By  H.  B.  Hackett,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  in 
Newton  Theological  Institution.  Andover.  New  York.  Boston. 
1847. 

Recollections  and  Estimate  of  Professor  B.  B.  Edwards  :  in  the 
Writings  of  Professor  Edwards,  with  a  Memoir  by  Professor  Edwards 
A.  Park,  D.  D.      1853.     Vol.  I.  pp.  51-2,  175-6,  and  300-305. 

A  Commentary  on  the  Original  Text  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  By  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical 
Literature  in  Newton  Theological  Institution.     Boston.      1852. 

A  New  Edition,  Revised  and  greatly  Enlarged.     1058. 

Illustrations  of  Scripture;  Suggested  by  a  Tour  through  the 
Holy  Land.  By  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  Professor  in  Newton  Theo- 
logical Institution.     Boston.      1855. 

New  and  Revised  Edition,     i860. 

Address  on  Bible  Revision.     New  York.     1859. 

Notes  on  the  Greek  Text  of  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  Phile- 
mon, as  the  Basis  of  a  Revision  of  the  Common  English  Version  ; 
and  a  Revised  Version,  with  Notes.  New  York.  Louisville.  London. 
i860. 

Thirty  Articles  in  Dr.  William  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible. 
Published  in  England,  1860-63. 

An  Introduction  to  the  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Gospels, 
By  B.  F.  Westcott.     1861. 


PUBLISHED    WORKS    AND    ARTICLES.  299 

Christian  Memorials  of  the  War  ;  or  Scenes  and  Incidents 
Illustrative  of  Religious  Faith  and  Principle,  Patriotism  and  Bravery 
in  our  Army.  By  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  Professor  of  Biblical  Litera- 
ture and  Interpretation  in  Newton  Theological  Institution.  Boston. 
1864. 

Address  at  Dedication  of  the  Soldiers'  Monument  in  Newton. 
1864. 

Plutarch's  Delay,  &c.  Revised  Edition,  with  Notes  by  Pro- 
fessors H  B.  Hackett  and  W.  S.  Tyler.  New  York.  D.  Appleton 
&  Co.     1867. 

Dr.  William  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible;  comprising  its 
Antiquities,  Biography,  Geography,  and  Natural  History.  Revised 
and  Edited  by  Professor  H.  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.,  with  the  cooperation 
of  Ezra  Abbot,  LL.  D.,  Assistant  Librarian  of  Harvard  College. 
Four  Volumes.  New  York :  Published  by  Hurd  &  Houghton. 
Cambridge:  Riverside  Press.  1 868-1 870.  (Dr.  Hackett's  Contri- 
butions to  the.  English  Edition  are  distinguished  by  the  initials  H. 
B.  H. ;  his  editorial  additions  in  the  American  Edition,  by  a  star  {*) 
and  the  initial  H.) 

The  Epistle  of  Paul  to  Philemon.  A  Commentary,  by  Dr.  J. 
J.  Van  Oosterzee.  Translated  from  the  German,  with  Additions,  by 
Horatio  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.,  Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary, 
Newton  Centre,  Mass.     1868. 

The  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Philippians.  A  Commentary,  by 
Karl  Braune,  D.  D.  Translated  by  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.,  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Theological  Seminary,  Rochester,  N.  Y.     1870. 

The  Metaphors  of  St.  Paul  and  Companions  of  St.  Paul. 
By  John  S.  Howson,  D.  D.,  Dean  of  Chester.  With  an  Introduction 
by  Prof.  H.  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.,  Editor  of  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary. 
Boston.     New  York.      1872. 

The  papers  on  the  Metaphors  of  Paul,  which  first  appeared  in  the 
"Sunday  Magazine,"  in  England  (1866-67),  were  reproduced  at  the 
instance  of  Dr.  Hackett,  in  the  American  "Theological  Eclectic" 
(1867-68). 

Historical  Illustrations  of  the  Old  Testament.  By  the 
Rev.  G.  Rawlinson,  M.  A.,  Camden  Professor  of  Ancient  History, 
Oxford.     With  Additions  by  Prof.  H.  B.   Hackett.     Boston.     1873. 

The  Book  of  Ruth.  The  Common  Version  Revised.  By  Horatio 
B.  Hackett.     New  York.     1876. 


2,00  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  PERIODICAL  LITERATURE. 

LITERARY    AND    THEOLOGICAL    REVIEW. 

No.  IV.  1834.     The  Intellectual  Dependence  of  Men  on  God. 

THE    AMERICAN    BIBLICAL    REPOSITORY. 

Vol.  XL  1838.  p.  203.  On  the  Infrequency  of  the  Allusions  to 
Christianity  in  Greek  and  Roman  Writers.  Translated  from  the 
Latin  of  H.  G.  Tzschirner. 

ARTICLES    IN    THE    CHRISTIAN    REVIEW. 

Vol.  III.   1838.  p.  20.     Influence  of  Christian  Mothers. 

Vol.  IV.  1839.  p.  1.  Religion  of  the  Bible.  A  Review  of  Reli- 
gion of  the  Bible,  in  Select  Discourses,  By  Thomas  H.  Skinner. 
New  York.     1839. 

Vol.  V.  1840.  p.  182.  The  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Romans. 
Origin  of  the  Church  of  Rome — its  condition — occasion  and  object 
of  the  Epistle.  Translated  from  Hemsen's  "Der  Apostel  Paulus, 
Sein  Leben,  Wirken  und  seine  Schriften." 

Vol.  VI.  1 841.  p.  66.  Biblical  Criticism.  The  Journey  of  Paul 
to  Jerusalem, — Galatians  2:  1,  seq.,  and  Acts  15.  Translated  with 
Remarks,  from  Hemsen's  "Der  Apostel  Paulus." 

Vol.  VII.  1842.  p.  563.  Letter  to  a  young  Philologian.  By 
Barthold  G.  Niebuhr.     Translated  from  the  German. 

Page  620.  Notices  of  Krabbe's  Lectures  on  the  Life  of  Jesus ; 
Klausen's  Hermeneutics  of  the  New  Testament;  and  Lachmann's 
New  Testament,  in  Greek  and  Latin.     Vol.  I.  Berlin.     1842. 

Vol.  VIII.  1843.  p.  199.  Neander  on  the  Parables  of  Christ. 
Translated  from  his  "Das  Leben  Jesu  Christi,"  in  seinem  geschicht- 
lichen  Zusammenhange  und  seiner  geschichtlichen  Entwickelung. 

Page  467.  Notices  of  Tholuck's  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  of 
Paul  to  the  Romans;  Crusius's  Iliad  of  Homer;  and  Guerike's 
Historico-critical  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament. 

Page  588.  Neander  on  the  Parables  of  Christ.  (Translation 
concluded.) 

Vol.  X.  1845.  P-  IT3-  Symbology  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
Rules  for  its  Interpretation. 

Page  151.     Literary  Intelligence  from  Germany. 
Page  313.     Notices  of  Petermann's  and  Winer's  Chaldee  Gram- 
mars. 


CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    PERIODICAL    LITERATURE.        3OI 

Page  468.     Notice  of  de  Maistre's  and  Amyot's   Translations  of 
Plutarch's  Delay  of  the  Deity. 

Pages  476  and  637.     Notices    of  German  Publications  in  Sacred 
Literature. 

Vol.   XI.   1846.  ]).  136.     Recent  Foreign  Publications,   chiefly   in 
Biblical  and  Classical  Literature. 

Page  472.     Notice   of  Greenleaf 's  Testimony  of  the  Evangelists, 
and  Literary  Intelligence. 

Vol.  XII.  1847.  p.  456.     Gleanings  from  Recent  German  Period- 
icals. 

Vol.  XIII.   1848.  p.  470.     Bibliographical  Notices. 
Vol.  XIV.   1849.  p.  420.     German  Notices  and  Intelligence. 
Page  526.     German  Intelligence. 

Vol.    XVIII.    1853.    p.    405.      Scripture   Facts   and    Illustrations 
Collected  during  a  Journey  in  Palestine. 
Page  515.     Same  subject  continued. 
Vol.  XIX.   1854.  p.  343.     Notes  of  A  Week  in  Palestine. 

Page  614.     Notice  of  Coleman's  Historical  Text-Book  and  Atlas 
of  Biblical  Geography. 

Vol.  XX.   1855.  p.  451.     Geographical  Accuracy  of  the  Bible. 
Vol.  XXII.   1857.  p.    321.       Literary    and    Theological    Intelli- 
gence. 

Vol.    XXVI.    1861.    p.    577.      Contents    of    the    Epistle   to    the 
Galatians. 

ARTICLES    IN    THE    BIBLIOTHECA    SACRA. 

Vol.  II.   1845.  p.  48. — Critique  on  Strauss's  Life  of  Jesus. 

Vol.  III.  1846.  p.  1. — Synoptical  Study  of  the  Gospels,  and  recent 
Literature  pertaining  to  it. 

Vol.  IV.   1847.  p.  171. — The  Structure  of  the  Hebrew  Sentence. 

Page  188.  The  Greek  Version  of  the  Pentateuch,  by  Thiersch. 

Vol.  V.   1848.  p.  97. — Analysis  of  the  Argument  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Galatians. 

Vol.  V.  1848.  p.  409. — Alleged  Anachronism  in  Acts  v.  36,  in  Re- 
lation to  the  Sedition  of  Theudas.     From  the  German. 

Vol.  VI.   1849.  p.   338. — The    Discourse  of   Paul  at   Athens.     A 
Commentary  on  Acts  xvii.    16-34. 


302  HORATIO    BALCH    HACKETT. 

Vol.  VII.  1850.  p.  743. — The  Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  Paul, 
as  related  by  Luke:    a  Commentary  on  Acts  xxvii.  1-44;  xxviii.    16. 

Vol.  XIII.  1856.  p.  609. — Plutarch  on  the  Delay  of  Providence 
in  Punishing  the  Wicked. 

Vol.  XVII.   i860,  p.  866. — A  Journey  to  Neapolis  and  Philippi. 

Vol.  XIX.  1862.  p.  211. — Remarks  on  Renderings  of  the  Common 
Version  (in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians). 

Page  469. — Church  Book  of  the  Puritans  at  Geneva,  from  1555  to 
1560. 

Vol.  XXII.  1865.  p.  138. — Remarks  on  Renderings  of  the  Com- 
mon Version  (in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians). 

Page  395.  The  First  Eleven  Chapters  of  Genesis  Attested  by  their 
Contents. 

Vol.  XXIII.  1866.  p.  515.  — Biblical  Notes,  (1)  Where  was 
Candace  queen?  (2)  Situation  of  Emmaus;  (3)  Dispute  respecting 
Capernaum;  (4)  Place  of  Bethabara  in  the  Harmony;  (5)  The 
Quarries  near  Gilgal. 

Vol.  XXIV.  1867.  p.  176.  — Biblical  Notes,  (1)  Situation  of 
Haran;  (2)  View  from  Nebo. 

Vol.  XXV.  1868.  p.  779.— Biblical  Notes,  (1)  Meaning  of  John 
20:    17;    (2)  Self-commendatory  allusions  in  John's  Gospel. 

Vol.  XXVI.  1869.  p.  203. — Biblical  Notes,  Renderings  of  the 
authorized  version  in  Judges,  xxvi. 

Vol.   XXVII.    1870.  p.  570. — Explorations  in  Palestine. 

Book  Notices  : 

Tholuck  on  the  Psalms.    Vol.  I.  pp.  417-420. 
Rodiger's  Hebrew  Grammar.    Vol.  III.  p.  214. 
Seffer's  Hebrew  Chrestomathy,  and  Lobeck's  Prolegomena.    Vol. 
III.  p.   215. 

Stuart's  Gesenius's  Hebrew  Grammar.    Vol.  III.  p.  789. 

Overbeck  on  Acts.    Vol.  XXVIII.  p.  413. 

Speaker's  Commentary  (prospectus).    Vol.  XXVIII.  pp.  402-4. 

THE    BAPTIST    QUARTERLY.        1 873.       p.    449. 

Transfiguration  of  Christ,  on  the  Basis  of  Mark  iv.  2-8,  and  its 
Teachings. 


Among  many  valuable  Newspaper  Articles,  may  be  mentioned 
Accounts  of  the  Rev.  H.  G.  Nott,  and  of  the  Last  Days  of  the 
Hon.  Richard  Fletcher;  and  Addresses,  and  Reports  of  Addresses, 
delivered  at  Newton. 


NOTHING    LITTLE    IN    LANGUAGE.  303 


A  PAGE  FROM  DR.  HACKETT'S  JOURNAL, 

1845. 

Dr.  Hackett  translated  many  years  ago  (as  may  be  seen  in  the 
above  list  of  his  writings)  the  famous  Letter  of  Niebuhr  to  a  young 
Philologian.  It  has  seemed  not  inappropriate  to  give  here,  at  the 
close  of  this  volume,  a  leaf  from  Dr.  Hackett's  Journal,  of  August 
3d,  1845,  which  reveals  the  secret,  or,  at  least,  an  important  con- 
dition, of  his  own  eminence  in  the  classical  and  sacred  languages. 
It  may  well  be  commended,  as  containing  so  concisely  the  maxims 
of  his  practice,  and  the  legacy  of  his  experience,  to  any  Christian 
students  in  America  aspiring  to  be  among  his  followers,  of  whom 
the  venerable  Tholuck  prays  that  a  multitude  may  be  raised  up. 

In  language,  nothing  is  more  false  than  that  apology 
for  dulness  or  indolence,  that  there  is  a  distinction 
between  words  and  things.  The  distinction  between 
words  here  is  the  distinction  between  things ;  and  no 
one  will  ever  become  an  exact  philologian — indeed  no 
one  will  ever  be  able  to  understand  a  foreign  author, 
who  despises  or  neglects  what  are  called  niceties  of 
language.  The  late  Dr.  Arnold  fell  for  a  time  into 
this  error,  while  at  the  University ;  but  his  strong,  good 
sense  led  him  ere  long  to  perceive  his  mistake,  and  he 
set  himself  then  resolutely  at  work  to  repair  the  con- 
sequences of  it ;  and  spared  no  occasion  for  warning 
his  pupils  against  so  false  and  mischievous  a  notion. 
Nothing  is  little  in  language ;  the  little  is  great,  and 
nothing  should  escape  attention  which  relates  to  the 
illustration  of  words,  through  which  alone  we  can  ascend 
to  the  comprehension  of  our  author's  mind  and  spirit.  '.  ■ 


NOTICE 


Since  noting  the  discrepancy  of  which  mention  follows,  an  effort 
has  been  made,  with  only  partial  success  thus  far,  to  ascertain  all 
the  facts. 

Page  12,  line  6,  and  page  217,  middle: — The  date  Nov.  2,  1828,  is 
taken  from  Church  Records.  To  correspond  with  it  (since  Dr. 
Hackett  entered  College  in  1826),  '  Sophomore  '  should  be  altered  to 
'  Junior.' 

It  is  not  an  improbable  inference  that  it  was  in  the  winter  of 
1827-8,  and  when  a  Sophomore,  that  Dr.  Hackett  became  a 
Christian,  instead  of  when  a  Freshman,  as  twice  stated  in  the  book. 
It  is  said,  however,  that  the  religious  interest  of  the  opening  months 
of  1827,  in  the  College,  was  a  more  marked  one  than  that  of  1828. 


It  is  discovered  that  the  following  errors  (from  printed  sources) 
have  been  repeated  in  this  volume  : — 

Page  76,  middle,  aKpifteia,  as  it  will  be  found  in  some  copies,  should 
be  accented  aKpiffeta. 

Page  164,  line  10,  'Thomas'  should  read  'Homes.' 

Page  234,  line  4  below  the  middle,  '1863'  should  read  '1868.' 


